For Baton Rouge Community College head coach Byron Starks, basketball is more than a game

Coach Byron Starks is a fan of an acronym.

He leads the Baton Rouge Community College men’s basketball team under what he calls the M.O.B. Mentality—short for “make others better.”

And in Starks’ three years as head coach of the program, the BRCC Bears have seen the results. Last season, the Bears achieved a record 20 wins, helping them to clinch the Louisiana Community Colleges Athletic Conference for a second year in a row. Coming off a record-setting 14-game winning streak, the team advanced to the Region XXIII Elite Eight for the second time in two years.

Starks says the success has come from setting high expectations for his players.

“When I’m recruiting guys, I tell them, ‘I’m going to give you the keys to drive the car–just don’t crash it.’ Which means we have a positionless style of basketball, where the players make decisions and our job as coaches is to train them so that they can make those decisions as efficiently as possible during the game,” Starks says.

Those expectations carry over off the court as well.

“If you’re disciplined off the court, if you’re on time off the court, if you’re going to class and take care of your responsibilities, then that kind of just spills over into your game,” he says.

Starks first fell in love with basketball as a child, watching his aunt compete for Simsboro High School in Lincoln Parish. He went on to win multiple state titles under legendary coach Michael Lyons at Grambling High School and later made two NCAA Tournament appearances with the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette).

After a stint playing professional ball in the Netherlands, he launched his coaching career, where he’s been putting his player-focused and faith-based principles to practice for more than a decade.

Before coaching in junior college, Starks ran up an impressive record as a high school coach for Lafayette Christian Academy and launched Champions International Inc., a nonprofit that mentors kids through the sport. His focus then was on “building better boys,” he says.

Today at BRCC, and previously at LSU Eunice (where he won four LCCAC titles as head coach), his goal is to “mold men,” and to see what’s typically a one- to two-year junior college commitment turn into a lifelong relationship.

“Sometimes, the discipline, they may not like it, but 10 years down the line, I still get texts from former players saying, ‘Coach, I remember, I appreciate the discipline that you instilled in us,’” says Starks, who’s also an ordained minister. “I’ve gotten some out of the bed and had to get them over on the court and run them before school … I just go off the Biblical principle that a father disciplines those he loves. And what I tell them is if I didn’t discipline you, then that means I didn’t care about you.”

Former LSU head basketball coach John Brady has served as special assistant to Starks over the last three years. Brady says Starks’ leadership style was one reason he was attracted to the role.

“[Starks] is a tremendous role model for the young men that play for him. He’s got a tremendous amount of character … His thought process about what the team needs and doesn’t need–the players are always his foremost concern, and their well-being,” Brady says.

“Coaching at every level is the same, whether it’s high school, junior college or major college. You have to have a team that understands each other, that has a love, care and concern for one another and has all the intangibles, just like a good family,” Brady continues. “A well-functioning family has a lot of love and respect … A [well-functioning team has] to have those types of qualities in order to make it all work.”

In July 2025, Starks’ 29-year-old son Byron “BJ” Starks Jr. was tragically killed in a vehicle accident. In response, the Bears have dedicated the current season to Starks’ late son, with each player wearing a “BJ 29” memorial patch featuring angel wings on his jersey.

“What BRCC has done has only helped in the grieving process,” Starks says. “My wife and I, we know how we raised our children, but for BRCC to dedicate the season and put the expectations for our players to go out and do the absolute best—it’s only fitting. It’s something my son would want, and we’re going to try to do our best to represent him.”

For Starks, this season in particular embodies the brotherhood he’s been building at BRCC—an extension of his own family.

Or as Starks likes to say, “F.A.M.I.L.Y.”—short for “forget about me, I love you.”