How one of college basketball’s top assistant coaches bolsters a program behind the curtains, and adapts to life in Blacksburg
Assistant Coach J.D. Byers is no stranger to the Virginia basketball scene. The Hokies are his fourth stop at a Virginia basketball program after stints at Randolph-Macon, Radford, and most notably, the VCU Rams, where he compiled a record of 129-61, reaching the NCAA Tournament three times. However, despite having built a strong resume in both recruitment and player development, his efforts tend to go highly unnoticed in the public spotlight, as is the hand you’re dealt as an assistant coach.
Over the last couple of seasons, the aforementioned recruiting and player development has paid great dividends for Byers’ programs. Over a four season span, Byers spearheaded three top Atlantic 10 recruiting classes, and mentored both Vince Williams Jr. and Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland, who are both getting double-digit minutes in the NBA. On top of working on players after convincing them to commit to your school, preparing for an opponent on a given day is a different process entirely.
“Every scouting report is probably six to seven game films of the other team. It’s combing through all the clips, all the personnel, so it’s hours and hours of preparation, going back over it with Coach, putting together a plan that makes the most sense for our team, practice planning around that plan, going out and executing that in practice, view the practice film, then turn around and get ready for the game,” said Byers.
Working with the players on the court is another piece of the puzzle that those with an outside view may accredit to just the head coach, but while athletes such as Hyland and Williams Jr. are making strides in the pros, several current Hokies are making their own strides in college under Byers. One of these players is forward Tobi Lawal, who is currently averaging 13 points and a shade under seven rebounds a game while shooting at around 59% from the field.
“Coach JD has made a major impact on my development as a player and the player I’m becoming. He is and was in the gym with me every day. His work ethic, care and basketball knowledge is unmatched.” said Lawal.
“In my opinion, Coach Byers is an elite player development coach. He was a record-setting player in his own right at Lebanon Valley – J.D. was an All-American and has his jersey retired there. Coach Byers is able to relate well with our players because he walked in their shoes. As he's progressed in his coaching journey, J.D. has great insight into the game of basketball, which he uses in drills and film sessions,” said Brian Cox, Associate Athletics Director.
“I think the thing that probably goes overlooked for assistant coaches or people that show up to the games don’t understand is just the day-to-day interactions with the players, keeping them in a great space, keeping their game sharp, there’s just a lot of human interaction that takes place that no one sees…there’s a lot of highs and lows throughout the season…navigate the highs when things are going well, and navigate the lows when they feel like they can’t do anything right,” said Byers.
Bouncing around from one location to another is never easy as a coach of any level in sports. From Virginia Commonwealth to Happy Valley, someone in the sports field, whether it be the intern, the big shot athlete or the guru coach tasked with building a program or an organization to glory, he or she could very well have to pack everything up and be sent to a distant location ages away from anyone they’ve ever known, and be hit with a massive case of culture shock. This comes with adapting to a new environment with an entirely new group of people. With Virginia Tech being Byers’ eighth stop in a coaching career that is approaching two decades now, he and his family are no stranger to bouncing around the Mid-Atlantic. Marci Byers, the head volleyball coach at Virginia Tech, J.D.’s wife and a Chicago native, knows this all too well.
“I think it’s more family oriented. All the other places other than Radford have been a college town. It’s different than being in the big city of Houston, or being relatively in a big city of Richmond. The family atmosphere that you get here at Virginia Tech, not just with our personal family but with other families that are around us, I don’t think that’s something you can find if you’re in a big city.”
Overall, the road to Blacksburg for J.D. Byers may not be very glamorous, but it has seen lots of success. As he treks through another basketball season, his Hokies are in a rebuilding phase, but aspire to leap to contending status sooner rather than later. While he works on adding talent to his program’s pool in the future and growing the athletes currently rostered in the present, he credits his father as his biggest influence to become a coach himself.“I’ve been most influenced by my father, who was a high school coach, 30 years as a head coach, and almost another 20 as an assistant…I’ve been very fortunate in my career, but I always go back to how my dad coached me. I think he gets back to that interaction you have day-to-day with the players, that’s what makes coaching special.”