Spotlight: Bruins Coach Rick Byrd

Rick Byrd coaches the Bruins, Belmont University’s championship basketball team. Byrd discussed his goals for the season at Nashville’s Kiwanis Club. Byrd was the 2005 Atlantic Sun coach of the year.

Coach Byrd said, "There's a lot of reason to be excited about our basketball team this year." He noted his Bruins had a lot of success on the court in the past year culminating in the nationally televised win over Duke. "It really catapulted us into a different position," Byrd told Kiwanians, "in terms of what is expected of our basketball program and what we can accomplish."

He said when the team moved up to the more competitive Division 1, he had to make decisions about how his team could accomplish what was needed. He was told he'd have to recruit different types of players if he really wanted to compete.

Byrd asked himself,"Can you be successful on the floor and yet field a group of young men that Belmont University can be proud of?" He decided his program had to enhance the University of which it is just one part.

Toward that end, Byrd had to forego academic exceptions for his players. He does not want players who make the headlines in what he termed the "wrong way."

The coach asked, "How many times can you pick up the sports section of the newspaper to see a college athlete who has done something that reflected poorly on the institution where he is?"

Byrd said his goal is to recruit young men who want both a degree and an education. He said the Belmont University's academic excellence helped him create a team that excells in academics.

Listen here: Bruins Coach Rick Byrd at Kiwanis