Billy Kennedy named Southeastern Alumnus of the Year
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
by: Rene Abadie
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University’s most successful men’s basketball coach
in history, Billy Kennedy, has been named the university’s 2016 Alumnus of the Year.
He will be honored during Southeastern’s Homecoming celebrations in October.
Head basketball coach at Texas A&M University for the past five seasons, Kennedy
has been successful at all levels in his basketball coaching career, having earned
Coach of the Year honors from multiple athletic conferences.
Kennedy is a 1986 graduate of Southeastern, where he played basketball, earned
a bachelor’s degree in social studies education, and served as the university’s winningest
basketball coach. A native of Metairie, he attended Holy Cross High School in New
Orleans before heading to Hammond to continue his education.
“Anyone who has ever met Billy Kennedy can attest to the fact that he is a class
act in every way,” said Mayson Foster of Hammond, president of the Southeastern Alumni
Association. “His focus, wherever he has worked, has been on the success of his student-athletes,
both on the court and in the classroom. We’re proud that Billy will return to his
alma mater this fall to accept this honor, and we know he looks forward to seeing
his many friends in the Hammond and New Orleans communities.”
He will be honored at the Alumni Association’s annual Awards Evening, scheduled
for Friday, Oct. 21. Tickets and more information on the event can be obtained from
the Alumni Association at 985-549-2150.
Kennedy joined Southeastern as head coach in 1999 and served until 2005, leading
the Lions to two Southland Conference regular season titles and the school’s first-ever
trip to the NCAA tournament. He was named Coach of the Year by the Louisiana Sports
Writers Association, the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches and the National
Association of Basketball Coaches for District 8 in back-to-back years. The Southland
Conference named him Coach of the Year in 2004.
After last year’s successful season that saw the Aggies earn a share of the Southeastern
Conference Championship and advance to the Sweet 16, Kennedy was named SEC Coach of
the Year and garnered the District 21 Coach of the Year honor from the National Association
of Basketball Coaches. His team climbed to No. 5 in both the Associated Press Top
25 and the USA Today/Coaches Poll to mark the school highest-ever national ranking.
Kennedy has also held assistant coaching positions at Northwestern State University,
Tulane, Creighton University, and the University of Miami. In addition to his positions
at Texas A&M and Southeastern, he has served as head coach at Centenary College and
Murray State University.
