Roman Banks, who has served as Southeastern Louisiana Universities top men's assistant basketball coach the past three seasons, enters his first season in Hammond with a new title - Associate Head Coach.

Banks, who has been part of a staff that has won 60 games in the last three seasons, played a vital role in the Lion's defensive effort in 2004-05 as Southeastern finished fourth in the nation in scoring defense (55.8) and produced the school's first-ever Southland Conference Tournament championship and berth to the NCAA Championships.

"He's a very valuable member of our coaching staff, our athletic department and this community," Southeastern head coach Jim Yarbrough said. We're fortunate to have someone with a great feel for the area and this institution. We're very in sync with our goals for building a program. He is a very strong person to have on our staff."

Since his arrival in Hammond, Banks has played a key role in the recruitment of several of the Lion's standout players, highlighted by 2005-06 SLC Player of the Year Ricky Woods, along with current players Quennell Green, Daryl Cohen and Joseph Polite.

Regarded as one of the top recruiters in the state of Louisiana, Banks spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Southern University where he served as the Jaguars' chief recruiter. While at Southern, he was responsible for the recruitment of two-time Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year Adarrial Smylie and Dionte Harvey, the 1997-98 SWAC Newcomer of the Year.

While at Southern, he was responsible for the recruitment of two-time SWAC Player-of-the-Year Adarrial Smylie and Dionte Harvey, who was named the SWAC Newcomer of the Year in 1997-98.

Banks, who played at Northwestern State and was the Demon's point guard in its upset win against Kentucky at Rupp Arena, finished his career as the school's all-time leader in assists while ranking second in steals and seventh in scoring. He led the Demons in four categories as a senior in 1991-92, including a 16.2 scoring average, and was named honorable mention All-Southland Conference and was a third-team All-Louisiana selection by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

Banks was named to the All-Southland Conference second team in 1989-90 after averaging 14.7 points and dishing out a career-high 157 assists helped the Demons to their first winning season in five years and helped the team establish 23 school records while leading the nation in team scoring averaging 95.0 points per game.

Banks started his coaching career at Shreveport's Green Oaks High School before spending two years at Southern University-Shreveport, where he was the Athletic Director and head men's basketball coach.

A native of Shreveport, Banks was a three-time All-District 2-4A selection at Captain Shreve High School where he averaged 22.7 points and 7.6 assists as a senior in helping lead the Gators to a 28-7 record.

Banks, a member of the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches, is married to the former Tiffaney McCoy, a school teacher in the Tangipahoa Parish School System. They are the parents of two children, son Trealun (12) and daughter Kennedi (6).