Bossier Schools’ Jeremiah Williams officiates a game
Bossier Schools’ Jeremiah Williams officiates a varsity basketball game between Byrd and Southwood on Jan, 12, 2004.
The Byrd High School administration reached into South Louisiana this week to land a boys basketball coach with championship credentials.
Jacket athletic director Stacy Ballew announced Thursday that H.L. Bourgeois assistant coach Drew Caillouet, the son of legendary HLB coach Andrew Caillouet, will run the Byrd program. The Caillouets won two District 7-5A titles together when Drew was a player and two when coaching together.
“We are both so competitive and to be able to get multiple district championships together was a special experience,” Caillouet told The Times. “We’ve been through the fires together. I will always be thankful for all the time we got to spend together because of that orange ball.”
Caillouet is expected to breathe new life into a Byrd program that finished 6-21 overall, 3-11 in District 1-5A last season. He assisted his father for six seasons.
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“We will have a similar style of up-and-down play and tenacious defense,” Caillouet said. “I was able to learn under my father, who has 600-plus wins and from Sterling Washington, who has a state championship as head coach at Ellender Memorial. Those are two all-time great coaches from our area down on the bayou. They taught me so much about coaching the game and I will be taking that knowledge and applying it at Byrd.
Andrew Caillouet has coached at HLB for 23 years and has won nearly 400 games at that school alone.
Jimmy Watson covers Louisiana sports for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at jwatson@shreveporttimes.com and follow him on Twitter @JimmyWatson6.