Former LSU men’s basketball associate head coach Butch Pierre announced Thursday he has accepted a position on the coaching staff at Oklahoma State.
Pierre spent 11 years at LSU. After former coach John Brady was fired in February, Pierre was named interim head coach and guided LSU to a 5-5 record.
“This just happened in the past couple of days, and I thought about it,” Pierre told The Daily Reveille late Thursday night. “It’s just a chance for me to move on in a new direction in this coaching profession.”
LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson could not be reached for comment late Thursday night.
When reached Thursday night, LSU redshirt junior forward Tasmin Mitchell said he had not heard about Pierre’s departure. Calls to other players late Thursday night were not returned.
Johnson, who was hired in April, had previously offered Pierre and assistant coach John Treloar positions on his staff. Treloar has not made any announcement on his future with LSU.
Pierre will join the coaching staff of Travis Ford, who left Massachusetts earlier this year to become Oklahoma State’s head coach.
“I was really impressed with the great job he did leading that team as the interim head coach during a difficult period last season,” Ford said in a news release.
Pierre is widely regarded as one of the nation’s better recruiters. At LSU, he helped recruit nine Parade All-Americans and seven junior college All-Americans. The Tigers’ 2008 class was ranked No. 18 in the country before the loss of five-star recruit J’Mison Morgan, who was released Tuesday from his letter of intent.
“I’ve had a lot of great memories over the last 11 years,” Pierre said. “The Final Four run [in 2006] was really special to me. The players were really special to me. I just want to thank everyone at LSU for supporting me through the years, particularly last year, when they supported me when I took over as head coach.”
—-Contact The Daily Reveille’s sports staff at [email protected]