Jermaine Wallace is returning to his alma mater.
Wallace was recently named head boys coach at Lakeside where he was a star player in the early 2000s. He was the first assistant coach at Minden for the past six seasons.
“I am very excited to have the opportunity to coach at my alma mater,” Wallace wrote in an email message. “This is the community that I grew up in and I have a lot of pride about it. I am just blessed to have the opportunity to give back.”
Wallace played under head coach Jason Gould at Sibley High which became Lakeside his junior year.
A guard, he was named to the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s Class 2A All-State first team his senior season of 2001-02. As a junior, he averaged 21 points per game. He was a two-time first-team All-District selection.
Wallace was also named to the academic all-state team. He was the senior class vice-president and earned the school’s Scholar-Athlete award.
Wallace then went on to have a stellar basketball career at Northwestern State. In the first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament his senior season, he hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer with a half-second remaining as No. 14 seed NSU pulled off a stunning 64-63 upset over No. 3 Iowa.
That came after the Demons won both the Southland Conference’s regular season and tournament titles.
Wallace started 118 games in four seasons and averaged 12.0 points, 1.2 assists and 1.1 steals. He led the Demons in overall and conference scoring his first three seasons.
As a junior, he helped NSU win the regular season conference title.
He was named the SLC Freshman of the Year in 2002-03 and second-team All-Conference his sophomore season.
Wallace takes over a Lakeside team that won only one game last season after going 9-17 in 2022-2023.