Cajuns Name New Assistant Coach

Coach Lee needed to fill the vacancy on his staff with the departure of assistant Rennie Bailey to Louisiana Tech. Lee found his new assistant coach and recruiting coordinator in former North Texas assistant Jai Steadman.

Jai Steadman joins the 2007-2008 Ragin’Cajun coaching staff as recruiting coordinator, replacing former assistant Rennie Bailey.Steadman comes from an assistant coaching position in the NBA developmental league in 2006.

A native of Lincoln, Neb., Steadman graduated from Nebraska in 1997 with a bachelor's of science in human development and family sciences. Previously, Steadman played basketball during the 1989-90 seasons at Hastings Community College.

He started his coaching career while attending the University of Nebraska, where he worked as an administrative assistant coach under Danny Nee from 1992-1997. During his time in Lincoln, the Huskers went to the postseason all five seasons, including NCAA Tournament trips in 1993 and 1994. In addition, Nebraska won the 1996 National Invitational Tournament as well as the 1994 Big Eight Tournament.

Steadman coached at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas, from 1999-2002. While at Tyler, Steadman served as the program's recruiting coordinator and assisted with on-floor coaching. He coached a Junior College All-American in each of his three seasons.

After his tenure at Tyler Junior College, Steadman was the head coach for the Randers Cimbria of Denmark in the European Professional League before taking the position with the Michigan Mayhem. He lead the Randers Cimbria to its most victories in over 50 years and to its first ever postseason appearance in 2003-04, making him a coach of the year nominee for his work with the Denmark team.

Steadman spent 2004 at McNeese State as an assistant under Tic Price, primarily working with perimeter players on the court and also taking part in the program’s recruiting efforts. Prior to joining McNeese State in 2004, he serves as an assistant coach for the Michigan Mayhem in the CBA earlier that year.

Prior to 2006, he served as an assistant coach at North Texas under Johnny Jones during the 2005-2006 season.

Coach Steadman is happy now, to have an opportunity to return to college basketball.

“This is a great opportunity for me to return to college basketball at UL, as a member of Coach Lee’s staff. When I was at McNeese St. and North Texas, we would come into the Cajun Dome; you would see athletes like Michael Southall, Orien Greene and Mitchell warming up, and those guys were the type of athletes we needed to recruit at North Texas to compete in the Sun Belt. UL and Western Kentucky had the best athletes in the Sun Belt and that is what we tried to emulate at North Texas.”

Coach Steadman believes the Cajuns have the talent to return to that type of program in 2007.

“I really believe we have some very good talent in this freshman and sophomore class. The fans are going to get excited when they see some of those athletes like Gary, Dyson, Gradnigo and Forrest. These kids will give us the athletic ability to play the game like we want to play.”

Steadman has some ideas about getting the student body involved and creating an atmosphere in the Cajun Dome that will attract more students.

“We are going to bring back Midnight Madness this fall and we are going to visit around campus to the students involved. During the season, we are going to visit fraternities and sororities to invite students to come out and support their basketball team.”