Former LSU basketball star and 10-year pro Ronald Dupree was named a student assistant on the LSU men’s basketball staff Monday by LSU Head Coach Johnny Jones.
Dupree has returned to LSU to finish up his degree work and will follow a similar path to what Coach Jones did in his first year on the LSU staff under Dale Brown as he served as a student assistant during the 1984-85 season while Jones finished up his degree work after his college career ended.
“We are excited about Ronald Dupree’s addition to our staff as he continues to pursue his degree in electrical engineering,” said Coach Jones. “He has shown through our camps and clinics his passion and desire to be involved in coaching and we look forward to his participation with our basketball team serving as a student assistant coach this year.”
Dupree played at LSU from 1999-2003 under then LSU Coach John Brady. The Tigers went to the NCAA Sweet 16 and won the conference championship in 2000, his freshman season. He was on teams that advanced to the second round of the NIT in 2002 and to the NCAA Tournament in 2003. He was the leading scorer in the league in 2001 at 17.3 points per game and second in rebounding at 8.8 boards per game.
He was also near the top of the league in rebounds in 2002 (8.8) and 2003 (8.5) and was in the top in scoring in both 2002 (16.2 ppg) and 2003 (15.8 ppg). He presently remains ninth in career scoring with 1,726 points (13.4 ppg average for 129 games) and ninth in career rebounding with 907 (7.0 rpg). LSU won 81 games during the course of his four years. He was an All-SEC selection each of the last three years at LSU.
“I am ecstatic to be able to come back, first of all, and finish my degree, and contribute to the LSU Basketball program that helped so much with my career. One part is giving back; and, the second part is starting my career as far as coaching is concerned. I am excited for our team, Coach Jones and the staff and look forward to doing what I can to help us win and move to the next level,” Dupree said.
Dupree, now 33, recorded six years of experience in the NBA with Chicago, Minnesota and three different stints with the Detroit Pistons. His high water marks were 47 games played in 2003-04 with Chicago and 2004-05 with Detroit. He had 14 post-season appearances with the Pistons in 2005 when they won the Eastern Conference championships. Dupree’s last NBA appearance came with Toronto during the 2010-11 season.
Dupree concluded his pro career last season with the Hapoel Jerusalem team of the Israeli Basketball Super League.
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