First-year Southeastern Louisiana men’s basketball coach Jay Ladner announced Thursday the addition of three coaches to his inaugural staff.

Joining Ladner, the 2014 Spalding NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year, will be former Southern Miss and Jacksonville State assistant Kyle Roane, longtime St. Thomas Aquinas H.S. coach Errol Gauff and former Winthrop star Tyson Waterman.

"I could not have wished for a better staff," Ladner said. "We landed all three coaches that were targeted, so I have to give some of the credit to athletic director Jay Artigues for making the financial commitment to allow this to happen. Every coach brings a little different skill set to the table. The reward on these hires we’ll see in years to come."

Roane comes to the Lions following three seasons as the head boys basketball coach at Petal (Miss.) High School. Prior to that he spent one season as the head coach at his alma mater, Forrest County Agricultural High School, leading it to the first round of the south state tournament.

Before returning to Forrest County Agricultural, Roane was at Jacksonville State University, where the Mississippi native teamed up once again with head coach James Green after the pair enjoyed tremendous success in a seven-year stint together at Southern Miss. Roane came to Jacksonville State after serving the previous two seasons as the head coach at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, Miss.

Roane was the first person named to Green’s staff at JSU after he was named the school’s head coach in the spring of 2008, bringing over 16 years of coaching experience at almost every level to the Gamecocks program.

"Kyle Roane brings the inner workings of the Division I level," Ladner said. "We’re more or less training under him on academics, the APR and all the issues with the NCAA."

In 1996, he joined Green as a member of his first staff at Southern Miss, where he served as an assistant for four seasons before being promoted to the Eagles’ Associate Head Coach in 2000, a position he would hold for three years.

While in Hattiesburg, Roane helped guide the Eagles to a pair of 22-win seasons, the first of which came in 1997-98, when they posted a 22-11 record and advanced to the NIT to face Auburn.

Gauff helped turn Hammond’s St. Thomas Aquinas H.S. into a 2A powerhouse, winning back-to-back state championships in 2007 and 2008. Since then STA has enjoyed a semi-final appearance in the 2009 tournament, a regional round playoff appearance in 2010, and reached the quarterfinals in 2011, as well as 2014, and was a semi-finalists in 2012 and the Class 2A State Runner-up in 2013.

"Getting to know Errol Gauff through coaching, I’ve always felt like he’s the type of person I’d like to be associated with," Ladner said. "He’s a good person and the doors he’s opened for us in this community are priceless."

The 2007 2A State Coach of the Year, Gauff was named district coach five times (2006-10, 12-13). He has been a member of the Louisiana High Basketball Coaches Association (LHSBCA) for 14 years, four of which he served in the executive office as secretary and vice president. He has also served as coordinator for boy’s basketball on the LHSAA’s executive council on three separate occasions.

In 2012 Gauff was selected as an assistant coach for the All American High School Championship Game.

Inducted into the Winthrop Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007, Waterman led the Eagles to back-to-back Big South Conference titles and the school’s first two trips to the NCAA championship tournament. He ranks fourth on the Winthrop all-time scoring list with 1,461 points and is third all time in assists with 469. He ranks among the Winthrop career leaders in 10 offensive categories.

In 1996, Waterman was voted the Big South Conference Rookie of the Year and was twice voted to the All-Big South Conference first team and once on the All-Big South second team. Following graduation, Waterman played professionally in Yugoslavia and the Netherlands. In 2001 his No. 41 jersey was retired and the framed jersey now hangs in the Eagle Room of the Winthrop Coliseum.

"Ty Waterman brings a national contact base," Ladner said. "He’s had a highly successful run in prep school and our relationship goes back to Jones County J.C."

Waterman served as the Head Boys Basketball Coach of Believe Prep Academy in Rock Hill, South Carolina, from 2010–14. Prior to Believe Prep, he spent the 2009-10 season as the head coach of the American Basketball Association’s (ABA) Charlotte Crossovers.

"First, and foremost, I wanted to surround myself with people that would project well not only on me but on the community," Ladner said. "They’re also fantastic basketball coaches with the skill set that will attract players to come be part of the Southeastern program."

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