Thursday, Nov. 7, the head basketball coaches of the Boulevard, Casey Alexander and Rick Byrd, met in the Hall of Fame room at Lipscomb University for the Golden Bison Luncheon.
With the upcoming Battle of the Boulevard, both coaches sat down to talk about their connected past and how the future would look.
Lipscomb coach, Casey Alexander, says that “[Byrd’s] greatest attribute to me is that he clearly knows what he wants and he won’t compromise anything to get there.”
Quick recaps of both school’s programs were mentioned, all the way back to Lipscomb winning the NAIA National Championship in 1986.
When both teams made the switch to Division I, Lipscomb took a head start as the team to beat between the two. Both coaches say they respect each other’s program and feel like they are heading into a situation similar to those days, but roles are reversed.
“We are in a situation right now where the Belmont program is literally, if you look at the last five or ten years- it’s the best. This is who we are comparing ourselves to. So it is similar in that way,” Alexander said.
With a rebuilding couple of years on the horizon for the Lipscomb team, Casey Alexander would rather jump start that with a win over Belmont.
“It’s gonna be hard to find anyone that wants to win this game more than I do,” Alexander said.
Battle of the Boulevard starts at 6 p.m. in Allen Arena Friday Nov. 8.