Q&A with Special Assistant Men's Basketball Coach, Duane Reboul
Tell us about your family.
Rainey, my wife of 44 years passed away May 1st, 2015 after a 10 year battle with FTD. FTD is a form of Alzheimer's that affects the front temporal region of the brain. Rainey and I have one daughter, Nicole Reboul Gilbert. Nicole and her husband Garry have three wonderful boys; Grayson 8, Brooks 7, and Tucker 5.
Tell us about your college experience.
I attended the University of New Orleans, as one of the first scholarship athletes! Our basketball team was ranked as the number 1 small college division team in the country which included such teams as Indiana St., Old Dominion, Louisiana Tech., Southwestern Louisiana, Tenn. State and numerous other talented teams. I had the privilege of being the starting point guard and one of the team captains on a team that won 22 consecutive games.
Tell us about your hobbies.
I enjoy traveling, fly fishing, and spending time with my 3 grandsons...Grayson, Brooks, and Tucker
Where's your favorite travel spot and why?
My favorite travel spot is my lake house in Ashville , Alabama.
What do you enjoy most about your time at Samford so far?
Working with the basketball staff, the athletic staff and the basketball players.
What was your initial reaction to Bucky being hired at Samford?
My initial reaction was that Martin Newton made an intelligent decision. He had the courage to think outside the box and hire an extremely successful high school coach. I also thought that Samford basketball will have an opportunity to compete for conference championships while generating an exciting brand of basketball creating interest throughout the community!
After coaching Bucky at Birmingham Southern, what has it been like to be a member of his staff?
Bucky is such a high energy person and so very positive that being around him and his staff have truly energized me and i am excited and thankful to be back in the game here at Samford. Bucky and I, were fortunate to have had a special relationship when he was our point guard at Southern. He was competitive, dedicated, skilled and had the ability to communicate and relate to each and everyone in our program. He was one of the most popular players that i have ever coached. He has all the intangibles. His basketball IQ was off the charts and I was quite certain that he would be an outstanding coach. After being with him for the past 7 months and observing him as a leader and coach i am even more impressed with his many skills. It is not a coincidence that he was able to create so much success and transform the Mountain Brook community into a basketball community...make that BUCKY BALL community! I am confident that he will bring a very similar transformation to the Samford University.
Essentially a brand-new team and coaching staff this year, what have you seen out of the team so far in practice?
Needless to say it's a work in progress! Bucky has emphasized a change of culture! Beginning with players being held accountable for their academics and their effort in everything they do....giving 100%...100% of the time. He continues to demand an atmosphere of unselfish play and constant pressure on the court. It's an exciting style of basketball that I am confident fans will embrace and enthusiastically support. Though we have lost four starters off of last years team we do have a nice nucleus of talented players returning to go with an outstanding recruiting class brought in by coaches Gerald Gillion, Sergio Rouco and Tra Arnold.
Many congratulations, Coach, on being honored as an inductee of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Will you share more about this experience and what it means to you?
It is certainly an honor to be inducted into such a prestigious HOF. To be included with some outstanding basketball coaches like CM Newton, Gene Bartow, Sonny Smith, and Wimp Sanderson, as well as some of my childhood idols such as Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Joe Louis is very meaningful to me. But as i have said many times this honor is the result of the effort of many dedicated assistant coaches and some very unselfish, competitive and talented players.
How has COVID altered scheduling for the 2020-21 season?
As one can imagine it has been extremely difficult! We were able to complete the schedule in May. That original schedule included games at Florida and Vanderbilt and an MTE(multiple team event) here at Samford. Unfortunately the NCAA decided to push the opening of the season back 15 days virtually wiping out our schedule. We then were able to put together another schedule but that too was altered by the various Conferences deciding to move conference games to December. This again eliminated availability of several non conference dates. Just when we thought we were finally compete with our schedule we received a call on October 27th (less than a month before the opening of the season) that the conference of one of our opponents was canceling all of their games until January 1st. We have several games that should be very interesting. At home we begin to develop an interstate rivalry with Alabama A&M on the 28th of Nov and Alabama State on the 9th of December. We are at Belmont on the 5th which should be a challenge, followed by a trip to the University of Georgia. Then on Dec 30th we will open up conference play. All of that to say it's going to be an interesting season.
Final Message from Coach Reboul:
"Over the many years that I have had the privilege of coaching, I have observed that teams and programs that are at the top of their respective conferences have always had the support of the administration, an involved president and active and supportive Athletic Director. Those successful programs have also enjoyed the financial support of their fan base. It's a complete team effort; From coaches and players, to students and fans, to the generosity of their donors. With that being said, to all of our donors please know that we certainly appreciate you helping us in this journey and we look forward to your involvement in BUCKY BALL on Lakeshore Drive!!!"
