Being the center on LSU’s men’s basketball team and the center of attention in most crowds, 7-footer Stanley Roberts was the big man on campus in 1990. Roberts’ talent and size gave him the ability to leave LSU after his second season as a Tiger to pursue a professional basketball career. Roberts made millions and was able to buy whatever he wanted.But after 18 years and five NBA teams, Roberts is back at the University trying to get the one thing he couldn’t buy — a college degree. There were many reasons why Roberts came back to get his degree, including constant pressure from former LSU coach Dale Brown. But no one put more pressure on him than his daughter, 17-year-old Stanecia Roberts, who challenged him to get his college degree. “I have a daughter who is getting ready to go to college in a year, and she was convinced that I needed to get my degree,” Roberts said. “With all the pressures, I decided I might as well come back.”Stanecia Roberts said if she was going to get a degree, he should get one, too.But along with making millions, Roberts made some mistakes. He had problems with alcohol, drugs, women and money and needed help funding his return to LSU. Roberts finally took out student loans and decided to come back in fall 2007 with the help of Brown. “I told him if he came back, I would help him through the Dale Brown Foundation,” Brown said. “Two-thirds of his expense he’s taken out student loans and handled himself, and the foundation has only helped him with about a third of it.”Brown said the Dale Brown Foundation has helped hundreds of people after hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Gustav and has helped a lot of former athletes come back to college to get a degree.Roberts is in his second semester after taking the spring 2008 semester off because of personal reasons and is studying human resources and education.One of the first obstacles Roberts faced when he re-enrolled at the University was the technology. Roberts said he got frustrated the first time he tried to sign up for classes because the registration office told him he had to do it online. He pleaded for help and said, “What do I need to do? You need to walk me through this.”Roberts said he’s trying to learn the University’s new technology, but changes, such as the switch from Blackboard to Moodle, make it challenging for him.”I think we may have had four or five computers on the whole campus when I first came here,” Roberts said. “Now everything is computerized. It’s totally changed.”He said he is doing better in his harder classes than he is in his easier classes. “It’s the easy classes that give me problems,” Roberts said. “I guess because I am concentrating so much on the hard classes. The easiest [class] I have is theatre, and I actually have a ‘C’ in it.”Roberts said being on campus is a lot different than it used to be. He used to enjoy the spotlight he received when he was a student athlete. Now he wants as little attention as possible. “I always go to class and try to sit in the back corner and be as quiet as possible,” Roberts said. “I think it’s time for me to sit back and hide in the shadows and let everybody else get their spotlight.”Being in the NBA for so long has gotten Roberts used to the attention, though. He said most professional athletes don’t always have time for autographs, photos and the media and are just normal guys who have bad days and want to be left alone sometimes. “If you catch them at the wrong time, they can be very rude just like anybody else,” Roberts said.The spotlight and criticism begin early in an athlete’s career. Roberts said even college athletes have pressure from media and fans. “I’ve got a couple football players in my class, and I like to mess with them,” Roberts said. “I like to ask them questions all through class, because I know what it’s like.”Roberts said being a regular student is much easier. He said being a student-athlete is difficult because of practice times, study hall, academic requirements and traveling with the team. He now has extra time to focus on his schoolwork. But Roberts said he is interested in staying a part of LSU’s basketball program and said LSU coach Trent Johnson extended an invitation to him to do so.Johnson said Roberts is welcomed to come to the gym in the spring and summer to speak to the team if he is in shape and has enough time. Johnson said Roberts being back in school “speaks volumes” about who he is. “I’m just excited and feel good about Stanley being back and finishing school,” Johnson said. “That’s the most important thing.”Roberts has learned how important getting a degree is. He said life outside the college doors is a lot harder than he expected. “Once you retire, then you have to build your life,” he said. “Basically, this is the second chapter in my life … well, let’s say the third.”Brown said he thinks Roberts’ next chapter in life should be a career in counseling or coaching children. Brown said he and   Roberts spoke to kids at an NCAA event in Tucson, Ariz., during the summer, and the kids were intrigued and gathered around Roberts afterward. Roberts told them about the bad choices he has made.”He was just open and honest,” Brown said. “He could help a lot of kids divert from going down that bad road.”Roberts said he wishes he would have stayed in college and gotten a degree, but he has learned a lot from his mistakes in the past. Now he is looking forward to the future and toward his new objective. “That’s the only thing I haven’t done in my life … get my college degree,” Roberts said. “So that’s my goal now.”—-Contact Jarred LeBlanc at [email protected]