Bobcats will miss Roane

By Shawn Wansley, JCJC SID

May 10, 2008 11:45 am

— ELLISVILLE – Trenton Marshall said he was stunned when basketball coach Kyle Roane informed the Jones County Junior College team last Sunday night he was leaving for Jacksonville State.
“It was a big surprise,” said Marshall, who averaged 23.9 points and 7.5 rebounds a game as a freshman for the Bobcats this past season. “We were disappointed. He recruited me from day one at East St. John (La.). He kept coming to all of my games and taking care of me. He told me he would do whatever he needed to get me graduated out of junior college and so far, it’s happening.”
Roane, who has been head coach at JCJC for the past two years, resigned his post to become an assistant coach under James Green at Jacksonville State. Roane coached under Green from 1996-2003 at Southern Miss.
Green is pleased to have Roane on his staff and understands why Bobcat players and fans are sad to see Roane leave.
“I don’t know the words to describe how good of a person Kyle is and how good of a basketball coach he is,” said Green by phone on Thursday morning. “I know he regrets leaving such a good family at Jones, but it’s an opportunity for me to build a strong staff.”
Green said Roane was involved in all facets of coaching when they were together at Southern Miss.
“He is good at every phase of a program,” said Green. “The success we had at Southern Miss was due to his ability and work ethic. He was strong in academics – we graduated our players. We worked our players hard in practice and he had a lot to do with that. He handled our scouting and our travel.
“He started out as a graduate assistant and ended up as my associate head coach. He is a superstar.”
Green added that Roane is the first assistant coach he has hired at Jacksonville State.
“My first order was to get the right man and now we’ll move on and build our staff,” he said.
Marshall, a 6-foot-5 guard/forward said the Bobcats would miss Roane.
“He meant a lot to me off the court and on the court,” he said. “He made sure I got all of my classwork done and got to class on time. We had a good season, but it could have been better. He’s a good coach and everybody is a little upset he is leaving. But, he has to do what’s best for him.”
JCJC school officials announced Friday the hiring of Don Skelton as the new men’s head basketball coach.
Marshall said the Bobcats are looking forward to playing under the new coach.
“We will just have to come back tougher and build a relationship with the next coach,” he said.