LSU men’s basketball coach Johnny Jones announced on Tuesday that former Tiger basketball player and New Orleans prep legend Randy Livingston will join the LSU coaching staff as an assistant coach.
Livingston completes the coaching staff and will join Associate Head Coach Robert Kirby and Associate Coach Brendan Suhr for Coach Jones’ fifth season at LSU. Jones has won 80 games in four seasons and has more wins than any coach in their first four seasons at the helm of the LSU program.
“I am very excited about the new addition to our staff, Randy Livingston,” said Coach Jones. “He was a tremendous high school player, an NBA player and a true student of the game. He has coached in the summer leagues and in the NBA D-League as well as developing scouting services at the high school level. All these things have positively shown that Randy has the desire, commitment, and a great love for the game of basketball. We are excited about his passion and enthusiasm for the game and he bleeds purple and gold. The impact he will have on our players this coming season will allow for continued success and growth within our program.”
The hiring must be approved by the LSU Board of Supervisors at a future meeting.
Livingston, who will be inducted into the New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame on Aug 6, had a star-studded career at Newman High School, sharing National Prep Player of the year honors with Jason Kidd in 1992 and Rasheed Wallace in 1993.
His career at LSU was limited after a major knee injury in the summer prior to coming to LSU in 1993 and his redshirt freshman season in 1994-95 was halted after dislocating his kneecap in a game at Arkansas at a time when he was leading the nation in assists. He only played into February during the 1995-96 season, at times on one good leg, before shutting his college career down to prepare for the NBA draft.
Livingston would be drafted in the second round in 1996 by the Houston Rockets of the NBA. He would play 203 games over the course of 11 seasons with Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Golden State, Seattle, New Orleans, LA Clippers, Utah and Chicago.
He would also play in the Turkish league and later joined the NBA Developmental League’s Idaho Stampede, a team he would play for earlier when the team was in the CBA. He was the league’s MVP in 2007 and in 2008 helped the team to the NBDL title. He would coach the Stampede from 2010-12.
“I’m very excited,” said Livingston. “At the end of the day, coming back home was just too hard to pass up. I want to come in and work to help the basketball team win the ultimate prize. I want to blend in with Coach Jones and the staff in trying to achieve great success on and off the court.”
Livingston, 41, has most recently been in Australia where he has put together a scouting service for men’s and women’s college prospects.
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