Columbia High School has tabbed a new head boys basketball coach, making a hire from the college ranks to boost the program.
Jordan Dupuy, who last coached at Northwestern State (La.) as the women’s head coach, will replace Charlie James, who stepped down to coach only girls basketball.
Dupuy said he was drawn to the job to lead the Wildcats because he loves the Pine Belt area and high school basketball. It didn’t hurt that he believes Columbia’s basketball program could grow to become elite.
“Columbia has always had great athletes,” he said. “Also, the relationship I have with coach (Chip) Bilderback. Missy, his wife, we went to school together. Having Chip here and seeing the success he’s had here and having him to be able to show me the ropes, I just think it was a perfect fit. I’ve always been drawn to the high school scene because I feel it’s where I can make a bigger impact.”
The 40-year-old coach wants to bring a winning culture to Columbia, and he said winning isn’t just about having more points on the scoreboard at the end of a game. It’s about winning every single day in every sprint, every drill, every rep and every aspect of life.
“if you don’t wake up every single day and try to better yourself and the people around you, you’re not winning. Winning is something you do every day when you wake up,” he said. “It’s what you do when you go to class, when you get out in the community, and if you handle those areas the way you need to then winning on the court will take place.”
Columbia High Principal Braxton Stowe said in a statement he believes Dupuy will be a great leader for student athletes both on and off the court.
“Coach Dupuy embodies the mission and vision of CHS, with a resolute passion and hunger for excellence,” he said.
The Wildcats under Dupuy are going to be aggressive on both ends of the floor, pressing opposing offenses and running the floor in transition.
“We’re not going to sit back any. We’re going to create tempo on both ends of the floor,” he said. “If it calls for structure, we’ll be structured, too. We’re going to be able to play a whole lot of different ways (depending on the opponent) and create a system where we can adapt to put ourselves in a position to win. At the same time, I want to run as much as possible, make or miss, and create offense off our defense.”
Dupuy added that in two of his seasons leading Northwestern State, the Lady Demons were Top 10 in the country in forcing turnovers, and he wants to bring that to Columbia. The goal is to create chaos while playing with maximum effort at all times. He said there will likely be a heavy rotation because players can only give 100% for so long.
“They can’t condition themselves to save themselves for the whole game. They just need to go hard as they can for two or three minutes, then we’ll get the next crew in there to do the same thing. It may equal playing less minutes but being more efficient in those minutes,” he said.
Columbia went 8-16 last season while dealing with several injuries to key players, including wing Darius Stewart and center Jaheim Oatis.
Dupuy spent nearly four seasons with the Lady Demons, compiling a 36-60 overall record. However, midway through the 2019-20 season, Dupuy was placed on leave for the remainder of his contract, according to a statement released by the university.
However, Dupuy says it wasn’t a decision he made and that he didn’t resign.
“They wanted to go in a different direction. Basically we weren’t winning enough,” he said. “I thought that it would’ve been something that could’ve happened later on in the season; that’s the only thing that really didn’t make a lot of sense. At the same time, I had such a great relationship with everybody that it was an understanding. I want to make it clear I didn’t resign. I would’ve never quit in the middle of the season.”
He said he deviated philosophically to cater to modern athletics on the collegiate level, and that’s the only thing he truly regrets about his time with the Lady Demons. He plans to get back to his core beliefs as a coach with the Wildcats, and he said he believes it will be the best way to impact the student athletes.
“If we do it the way we need to do it here, I feel like we’re going to succeed in everything that we do,” he said. “I feel like you learn more from failure than you do from success, and I learned a lot and can’t wait to implement those things I want to tweak and change here.”
Dupuy said he believes he can have a huge impact on turning Columbia’s student athletes into young men. He said coaching isn’t just a job but a calling, and he believes he can use the game of basketball to teach all kinds of life lessons.
“It’s about growing them intellectually, socially, physically, spiritually and giving them every opportunity that we can to instill certain things that are going to stay with them for the next 40, 50 years of their lives,” he said. “It’s not only about my players. It’s about the ones that are going to be in my classroom and every student that walks on campus. I’m going to try to reach every single one that I possibly can and let them know I’m here for them in any way I can be here for them.”
Prior to Northwestern State, Dupuy spent eight years as an assistant for the Southern Miss women’s basketball team, the last three of which he served as the associate head coach under Joye Lee-McNelis.
Dupuy said he learned how to run a program and everything that’s involved with it from McNelis.
“It’s more than just coaching, more than just recruiting,” he said. “She showed me the ropes, and finally I was able to get to a point where she let me go and trusted me. She allowed me to make my own mistakes and learn from them.”
The coach does have experience coaching high school as he spent four years coaching boys and girls basketball and softball at three high schools before going back to USM, where he earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He was an assistant coach at St. Stanislaus, Forrest County AHS and Oak Grove. He worked with the men’s program as a student assistant before assuming a graduate assistant role. Then USM created a new role to keep him on as he became the director of basketball operations for a year. However, the head coach and the rest of the staff was let go following the 2003-04 season, prompting his foray into the high school ranks. Dupuy is a graduate of Catholic High School in Baton Rouge.
