Just when former North Montgomery High School and Purdue University basketball player D.J. Byrd thought he was settled in with a new basketball coaching job at Barry University, his phone rang.
He was being offered a job to be an assistant coach at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
The decision to leave Barry, a DII school in Florida, was difficult considering he had just taken the job in July. But the opportunity to coach at a NCAA Division I school was too good to pass up. Byrd also knows his chosen profession can be a little crazy at times.
“The timing in college basketball can be unpredictable and ultimately I had to make a decision to accept the position at SEMO,” Byrd said. “It was a late development and happened faster than I could imagine.”
Byrd said the short time he was at Barry was worthwhile. He has a lot of respect for the longtime coach Butch Estes.
“I had a great experience with Coach Estes at Barry,” Byrd said. “(Barry) has a great situation and a great group of players.”
The head coach at SEMO is Brad Korn and he was pleased to land Byrd as an assistant.
“D.J. has a great pedigree having grown up in the rich basketball state of Indiana,” Korn said. “D.J. and his wife Ashley will be great additions to the SEMO area and community.”
SEMO is a member of the Ohio Valley which includes Eastern Illinois University and Southern University of Indiana. The Redhawks’ preseason schedule includes a season opening game at Bradley with their second game at Vanderbilt.
Byrd and his wife have already moved to southeast Missouri where he immediately got busy with SEMO coaches and players.
“We moved and I jumped right back into preseason basketball mode,” Byrd said. “I look forward to learning from Coach Korn and doing my best to help the Redhawks to a championship season.”
Before his job at Barry, Byrd was an assistant coach for five seasons at Mercer University. He also served on the staff as a graduate assistant under Coach Matt Painter at Purdue University.
At North Montgomery, Byrd led the Chargers to three sectional championships and was name an Indiana All-Star.
