Hello everyone my name is Chris

Upon the conclusion of five years as Head Men’s Basketball Coach at LSUS, Chad McDowell has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments and awards. This list includes 2005, 2006 and 2008 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championships; three consecutive GCAC Tournament Championships in 2006, 2007 and 2008; four consecutive NAIA National Tournament appearances from 2005-2008, which includes advancing to the Sweet Sixteen in 2005 and 2008; three GCAC Coach of the Year Awards (2004, 2005 and 2008); five Louisiana Small College Coach of the Year Awards (2004-2008); a school record 31 wins in 2008, including three victories over NCAA Division 1 opponents (McNeese State, Centenary and Northwestern St.); and has had his Pilots ranked as high as No. 1 in the country (2006).

On March 3, 2007, McDowell recorded his 100th win as the LSUS Head Coach by defeating Xavier University 82-66. Since the resurrection of the men’s basketball program at Louisiana State University in Shreveport in 2003, McDowell has led the Pilots to a 132-35 (.790) overall record, the highest winning percentage of any college basketball coach in the State of Louisiana over the last five years. The Pilots have combined for a 72-18 record in conference play, and a 65-9 (.878) record at “The Dock”.

A big reason for Coach McDowell’s success over his first five years is his ability to recruit some of the top players at the NAIA level. Fredericko Payne led the NAIA in scoring averaging 25.5 points per game in the 2005 season and was selected as the first All-American in LSUS athletics history. Payne was also selected as the GCAC Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006 and was awarded the Louisiana Small College player of the year in 2004, 2005, and 2006. In addition to Payne, Josh Porter finished his career as a two-time NAIA All-American (2006 and 2008), while being named the Basketball Times NAIA Player of the Year, GCAC Player of the Year and Louisiana Small college Player of the Year in 2008.

McDowell was born on April, 15, 1973, in Shreveport, LA. He graduated from Southwood High in 1991 and enrolled at LSUS. He averaged 20 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds a game his senior year at LSUS. He was twice named Southwest Region Player of the Week and was named a finalist for Louisiana Player of the Year his senior season. He holds LSUS records for career assists and career steals, and is second in career scoring and third in career scoring average.

After graduating in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary and secondary health and physical education he returned to his alma mater as assistant girl’s basketball coach and head girl’s freshman basketball coach.

In 1997 he became the boys’ head basketball coach at C.E. Byrd High School, one of the largest public schools in the state of Louisiana. McDowell, at the time, was one of the youngest head coaches at the 5A level in Louisiana. In his four seasons at Byrd High he compiled an 86-48 record, and made playoff appearances twice.

In 2001 he moved across town and back to his alma mater, Southwood High School, where he became the head boy’s basketball coach. He restored the programs tradition, and in his first year his team had a 29-7 record and made it to the 5A State Championship game. In 2002-03 his team improved to 38-3 and made it to the Quarterfinals of the 5A State playoffs. In his two highly successful seasons at Southwood he compiled a 67-10 record. McDowell has a 153-58 overall high school coaching record.

McDowell is married to the former Jennifer Young and they are the proud parents of three children. Martin Penn McDowell was born on January 31, 2003, Molly Catherine McDowell was born September 13, 2004, and Megan Elizabeth McDowell was born on March 3, 2008.

Assistant Coach Derrick Greene

Derrick Greene begins his sixth season as an assistant coach at LSUS. Greene is a native of Wilmington, North Carolina. With a parent in the military Greene moved to the Philippines, where he played high school basketball for Wagner High School, which played in the Far East Championships. During his senior year he moved to Bossier City, Louisiana, and graduated from Parkway High School.

Greene was a charter member of the first LSUS men’s basketball team, which began in 1990. He was a four year letterman for the Pilots. Greene and head coach Chad McDowell were teammates three of his years, which began a lifetime friendship between the two. He graduated from LSUS with a B.A. in Sociology in 1995, and became the graduate assistant for the Pilots basketball team in 1996. In 1997 he became an assistant coach at LSUS, but after one year the program was shut down. Greene then became a local AAU basketball coach. He also worked as an assistant boy’s basketball coach at Booker T. Washington High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, from 2001 to 2003.

Greene received his Master’s of Liberal Arts from LSUS in 2002 and currently resides in Bossier City.

Assistant Coach Ryan Edwards

Ryan Edwards begins his third season as a member of the Men’s Basketball Coaching Staff. Edwards duties are, but not limited to, opponent scouting, practice planning, individual player workouts, and monitoring the academic progress of Men's Basketball players.

In his first two seasons at LSUS, Edwards has helped guide the Pilots to two GCAC Tournament Championships, a regular season GCAC championship in 2008 and a fourth consecutive appearance in the NAIA National Tournament.

Edwards received a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from LSU in 2002 and a Master of Education in Sport Administration from Northwestern State University in 2004; accumulating a 4.0 GPA from both institutions. While at LSU, Edwards served as the head 7^th grade boys’ coach at University Lab School for the 1999-2000 school year and the high school associate head coach from 2000-2002 where he won the 2002 Class 2A State Championship.

From 2002 through 2004, Edwards served as a graduate assistant at Northwestern State. He then spent the 2004-2005 year as the administrative assistant for men’s basketball at the University of Texas Pan American where his primary responsibilities were coordinating travel and summer basketball camps.

Edwards returned to Northwestern State for the 2005-2006 season where he served as an assistant coach under Coach Mike McConathy. A magical season by the Demons included a Southland Conference regular season championship, a Southland Conference Tournament championship, and a birth in the NCAA Tournament where NSU upset 3^rd seeded Iowa in the first round of the tournament before losing to West Virginia in the Round of 32.

Assistant Coach Kyle Blankenship

Kyle Blankenship enters his third season as an Assistant Coach for the Men's Basketball team. Blankenship's responsibilities include opponent scouting, individual player workouts, on the floor coaching, and recruiting.

In addition to his basketball duties, Blankenship also serves as the Sports Information Director at LSUS. He was named the SID on July 1, 2007. Blankenship is in charge of reporting scores and statistics to the local and national media, writing game stories, and maintaining the LSUS Athletics Website.

Prior to coaching at LSUS, Blankenship completed his playing career in 2006 as a member of LSUS Men's Basketball team. Selected as a Team Captain by his teammates, Blankenship helped guide the Pilots offense to a record-breaking season. Blankenship finished the season as LSUS' single-season assists leader (199) and single-game assists record holder (14). Blankenship transferred to LSUS after 3 seasons at The University of Tulsa where he was a member of two Western Athletic Conference championship teams and made two consecutive appearances in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament.

Blankenship earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from The University of Tulsa in 2006.

Blankenship was born on March 1, 1983 in Fort Smith, AR