Dean, Lane, Brownlee form Edgar's first coaching staff

It was really never a secret, but recently hired Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Scott Edgar officially announced his new coaching staff early this week.

Ronnie Dean and Toby Lane, holdovers from previous coach Gary Garner's staff, have been retained by Edgar, with Scepter Brownlee also joining the Redhawks.

"When I interviewed for the job at Southeast, I told everyone that it was my goal and obligation to bring a championships staff to Southeast, and I feel I have done that," said Edgar, hired by Southeast on April 13. "This group will work well together and it will be my job to teach and train these coaches to be head coaches in the future. They are eager and hungry to get the job done."

Dean, 44, and Lane, 36, will be in their third seasons at Southeast. Dean was Garner's chief recruiter, while Lane handled a variety of roles and instituted a new video system to aid in game preparation.

"I am happy to retain them. They have been very valuable in the transition," said Edgar, an assistant at Tennessee last season and a former head coach at Murray State. "Ronnie has been primarily a recruiter in the past, and he will continue to recruit, but he has indicated to me that he is interested in learning more about the profession.

"Toby has done so many things for Southeast basketball while working behind the scenes. I will be working to train him to be a head coach."

Brownlee, the new addition to the staff, was with Edgar last season at Tennessee, although he was not a full time member of the Vols' coaching staff. He also spent one season as an assistant at Colby Community College in Kansas.

Brownlee, 26, is a native of Fort Wayne, Ind., who played at the University of San Francisco, where he was the recipient of the Jackie Robinson African American Athlete of the Year Award.

"Scepter is a young coach much like myself at that age," Edgar said. "He has a great opportunity to be a full-time Division I assistant at a young age. I am impressed with his knowledge, maturity and his core values.

"At Tennessee, he helped in a lot of areas including on-campus recruiting visits. He is an excellent evaluator of talent and his on the floor instruction is second to none. Every player who works with him will improve."

Guster headed to UTSA

The only member of Garner's staff who was not retained by Edgar will also remain in Division I basketball.

Robert Guster, 29, recently accepted an offer to join the staff at the University of Texas-San Antonio.

Guster, who was at Southeast the past two seasons, will be an assistant under new UTSA coach Brooks Thompson, a former NBA player who was most recently an assistant at Arizona State.