CRIMES
May 13, 2015Body found in Cocodrie identified
May 15, 2015
As the grandson of a legendary local coach and the son of a collegiate basketball player, it was just about inevitable that Larose native Justin LeBlanc would grow up loving athletics and competition.
That competitive drive sparked a decade-long career that took LeBlanc to the college level of play at Millsaps College in the early-to-mid 2000s.
Now, it’s evolved to coaching and a gig as a head coach at the collegiate level.
LeBlanc was named the head women’s basketball coach at Centenary in April – the first head coaching opportunity for the local, who has coached since his playing days came to an end in 2006. He replaces outgoing coach Kristen Davis, who resigned from Centenary after this past season.
The Larose native was an assistant coach for Centenary’s men’s team for the past five seasons, helping lead the Gents to two of the most successful seasons in the history of the program. He will now try and translate that to the women’s game where he will take over a team that struggled and went 0-24 this past season.
LeBlanc said he’s ready for the challenge, touting that the program’s struggles were huge source of motivation for him. Simply put, he looks forward to building and trying to sculpt the program from the ground-up.
“I’m certainly excited about it,” LeBlanc said. “It’s not a change of scenery for me, because I’ve been here on the men’s side for the past several years and we’ve done really nice things. So to now be on the women’s side, it’s exciting, because I’m looking forward to the opportunity to starting my own program and getting things turned around here.”
For LeBlanc, the ascent to being a collegiate head coach is a path that’s arguably been paved from birth.
LeBlanc is the grandson of Rene LeBlanc, the legendary local coach who coached from 1956-77 and won nearly 500 games in his career as the head coach at Larose-Cut Off High School and South Lafourche High School. Today, the LCO gymnasium is named after the great coach, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 81.
Justin LeBlanc said that basketball bug was passed to his father, who ascended through high school and played a little bit of college ball.
It also was given to Justin’s twin brother Jack, who is the head boys’ basketball coach at North Vermilion High School.
So it’s only fitting for Justin to follow suit and stay in line with the family tradition. The new Centenary coach was a standout at South Lafourche High School, who then played four years with Millsaps, earning four varsity letters for the Majors.
He then got into coaching, where he’s been since 2006. He started at Millsaps, then moved to Centenary, where he’s been for the past five years – an assistant coach at each stop.
“I didn’t have much choice,” LeBlanc said with a laugh when asked the age he decided to consider coaching. “In my family, that’s just sort-of what we do. Basketball has always been something that’s been with me. My first full-time college coaching job was two months after college graduation, and even back when I was a kid in sixth and seventh grade, I used to talk to my dad about how I wanted to be a basketball coach.
“This is all that I’ve ever done, and it’s something I’ve been passionate about.”
So now, the task on LeBlanc’s to-do list is recreating excitement within a Centenary women’s basketball program that has struggled in the past few seasons.
LeBlanc said that he’s familiar with his roster and personnel because the men and women’s teams play doubleheaders, which means that he’s watched the team play dozens of times.
The new coach touted that he has to hit the road tirelessly to recruit players.
That talent and motivation toward recruiting are things that made LeBlanc a fit, according to Centenary Athletic Director Ronda Seagraves, who said LeBlanc is a great fit.
“As someone who has been instrumental in building the Gent’s basketball program, Coach LeBlanc understands the culture of excellence and winning, as well as what it takes to get better to compete each day in practice and games,” Seagraves said. “I look forward to watching our women’s basketball team be competitive and successful in the very near future.”
