The Three Rivers men’s basketball program has found a new assistant coach in Trey Rakes who will be on the bench with head coach Brian Bess this coming season.
Rakes replaces Three Rivers alum Anthony Beane, who took an assistant coaching job at Lindenwood University.
“I’m really excited to join one of the best junior colleges in the country,” Rakes said. “It’s an honor to carry on the tradition of this program and try to get this team back to the national tournament.”
Rakes was most recently at Coastal Carolina as the Video Coordinator for the men’s basketball program last season after he spent two seasons as a graduate assistant from 2017-19. In between his two stints at Coastal Carolina, Rakes was an assistant coach at Colby Community College in Kansas for two seasons as he helped the Trojans reach the national tournament for the first time in program history.
“I always knew I wanted to coach at the college level,” Rakes said. “I got to work with a couple of hall of famers in Coach Cliff Ellis at Coastal Carolina and Coach Rusty Elmore at Colby. When Coach Bess gave me a call and told me that he had a position open, I knew I had to take it. In the JUCO level, you wear a bunch of different hats as an assistant coach so I’m excited for the challenge.”
Rakes played college basketball at the University of Pikeville at the NAIA level, staying in his home state of Kentucky. He led the Bears to two Mid-South Conference titles and went to the NAIA Tournament four times.
“I grew up in a basketball family,” Rakes said. “Basketball is huge in Kentucky, my dad (Ernest “Junebug” Rakes) played for Kentucky Wesleyan in Owensboro where he won a Division II National Championship in 1990 and coached me at Bullitt East in my hometown of Louisville. We went to the state tournament a few years while I was there before I went on to Pikeville.”
Rakes also has two brothers, Corey who played football at the Air Force Academy while Bailey played basketball for Centre College (Division III) in Kentucky.
With this year’s roster of Raiders arriving on campus this week, Rakes is already hard at work in the new digs.
“I’ve already had team meetings with the guys and saw them scrimmage in the gym a little bit,” Rakes said. “Coach Bess has been a great mentor to me so far and a great guy to work with. Haven’t gotten the chance to meet Gene Bess yet, but I’d love to be able to pick his brain with the hall of fame career he had.
“I really want to thank the Poplar Bluff community for being so welcoming to me so far,” Rakes said. “I also want to thank Dr. Wesley Payne and the board of trustees at Three Rivers for giving me this opportunity.”
The Raiders will start their 2022-23 season at Olney Central (Ill.) on Nov. 1 and their home opener is slated for Nov. 4 against Richard J. Daley (Ill.) College.
Robert Augsdorfer - Daily American Republic