Byrd High School administrators reached out to South Louisiana this week to land a championship-caliber boys basketball coach.
Jacket athletic director Stacey Ballew announced Thursday that H.L. Bourgeois assistant coach Drew Caillouet, son of legendary H.L. Bourgeois coach Andrew Caillouet, will run the Bird program. The Caillouets won two District 7-5A titles with Drew as a player and two more as a coach.
“We're both very competitive, so winning multiple district championships together was special,” Kaiyue told the Times. “We've been through fires together, and I'll be forever grateful for all the times we were able to spend together because of that orange ball.”
Kaiyue is expected to breathe new life into a Byrd program that finished 6-21 overall and 3-11 in District 1-5A last season. He served as an assistant to his father for six seasons.
Citywide:Introducing the 2023-24 Shreveport Times All-City Boys High School Basketball Team
Captain Shreve:Captain Shreve landed a new boys basketball coach after a parish-wide search.
“We have a similar style of up-and-down play and tenacious defense,” Caillouet said. “I've been able to learn from my dad, who has over 600 wins, and Sterling Washington, who played in a state championship as the head coach at Ellender Memorial. These are two of the greatest coaches ever to come from our part of the Bayou. They've taught me a lot about coaching the game, and I'll be taking that knowledge with me at Bird.”
Andrew Kaiyue has been a coach in the HLB for 23 years and has won nearly 400 games at the school alone.
Jimmy Watson covers Louisiana sports for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at jwatson@shreveporttimes.com and follow him on Twitter at @JimmyWatson6.
