MCHS hires ex-Alcorn State coach to lead baseball program

Morgan City High School continues to find coaches with collegiate head coaching experience to fill its vacancies as the Tigers recently hired ex-Alcorn State coach Barret Rey to lead its baseball program.
Rey, who coached at Alcorn State until June, is the second ex-collegiate head coach to be hired by Morgan City in less than a month as the Tigers named Robert Lee, former University of Louisiana at Lafayette head coach, its head boys’ basketball coach earlier this month.
“Barret Rey comes to us with a wealth of experience at the college level, so we’re excited about him,” Morgan City Principal Mickey Fabre said. “He’s highly respected and thought of by people in the profession throughout the state. Knowledgeable and he has a reputation of connecting with his players. I think the thing that excited us about him was he was excited about Morgan City High School and relocating to the Morgan City area. … He’s a quality hire for us. You pair him with Robert Lee, the basketball coach we just hired, I think we’re excited about the upcoming athletic seasons here at Morgan City High.”
Morgan City High School Athletic Director Scott Tregle commended Fabre on securing both Rey and Lee for the coaching staffs.
“We both discussed it at the end of the year that we needed to hire some quality guys for these two positions, and I think he hit the nail right on the head with both of them,” Tregle said.
Rey, who was Alcorn State’s head coach for the past six years, also was head coach for the past three seasons at Grambling State and spent another eight seasons as an assistant coach under Roger Cador at Southern University.
In the Morgan City job, he recognized the rich tradition from the players he had recruited and saw also it was closer to home.
Rey, a college pitcher at Southern, earned All-Southwestern Athletic Conference honors in 1994 and 1996 and was a pitching coach early in his career.
However, he said recruiting and player development is where he made his name in the college game.
“Fortunate to be under a good man (Roger Cador) and a good program at Southern University for so long, and that’s the way I found out about the rich tradition (at Morgan City) by signing guys like Freddie Calloway, Harold Ross and Kirk Anslum to our program at Southern University and got a chance to meet (former longtime) coach Tim Hymel that way,” he said.
In all, he has recruited more than 20 players who went on to be drafted in the Major Leagues, including Rickie Weeks and Fred Lewis.
The Morgan City job will be his first head coaching job on the high school level.
He said he was impressed with the Tigers’ facilities.
“Looking at what we have and players wise and who’s coming back, I think it’s a good fit,” he said.
The New Orleans native who prepped at St. Augustine, said his goal is to bring the program back to where it once was.
“I just want to bring it back to how Coach Hymel … had it, going to the playoffs, winning playoff games and getting a chance to compete for the state championship,” he said. “That’s always a goal is to win the championship. I’m not coming in looking for any shortcomings or just to be complacent with a couple of district wins here or there. I want to win a championship. That’s what we hope for.”
He is familiar with two of the coaches he will be competing against, too, as he played and coached against new Vandebilt Catholic head coach Gerald Cassard, while Rey coached Assumption head coach Craig Castello in college.
“The familiarity there will help me with getting familiar with the teams and what we need to do to be successful,” he said.
Rey comes to Morgan City after combining for a 141-228 mark overall in his head coaching career, including a career Southwestern Athletic Conference mark of 104-71.
At Alcorn State, he finished 91-135 with a SWAC mark of 70-34.
He came to Alcorn State from Grambling where he combined a 56-93 overall mark and a 34-37 record in SWAC play.
During his tenure at Alcorn State, Rey led his team to the 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 Southwestern Athletic Conference tournaments.
His team participated in the 2010 Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament Championship, won the 2011 conference tournament and was named 2011 SWAC Coach of the Year. His team competed in NCAA play in 2011, playing in the Rice University Regional.
At Grambling, he led the team to the 2008 and 2009 Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournaments.
He also was an assistant coach at Southern University where the team made multiple postseason appearances.