• After spending two seasons as UNF's Director of Basketball
Operations, Byron Taylor was named a full-time assistant coach for
the Ospreys in May of 2011.
• Taylor joined the Ospreys after completing his playing
career at Florida A&M in 2008-09. The Tallahassee, Fla., native
was a three-year letterwinner for the Rattlers, appearing in 84
career games.
• Graduated from FAMU with a Bachelor of Science in Economics
and a minor in Business.
Diary Series: Byron Taylor, Asst. Coach - North Florida
As a coaching staff we decided last spring to take a foreign tour
to Canada. The most important part of taking a foreign trip for our
team was the 10 practices that we could have. With only two new
comers and eight returning players we felt like 10 practices would
give our guys a chance to get to know each other’s games and
gel together. All of our players were in summer school, so we
decided to schedule our 10 practices around July recruiting. We
broke our 10 practices into two sessions of five. Our first
practice session was July 16th - 20th, and
our second practice session was July 31st – August
4th.
We really got after it at practice. As a staff we decided to put in just a few secondary actions, then we scrimmaged off those actions. It was great to see the growth in our players from our first practice session to the second. As a staff, we decided not to put in many sets during our practice sessions. We really concentrated on our transition break and secondary actions. The best part about our practice sessions was that our junior laden team began to understand that the best players stay after practice for extra shots and free throws. As a result, our younger players began to follow their lead and began to stay after practice to get up extra shots and free throws as well.
After our practice sessions were done it was time to go travel to play three games in Canada. On August 5th we departed Jacksonville and flew into Detroit, and then drove over the border into Windsor the next morning. Our head coach, Matthew Driscoll, had an innovative idea to have each assistant coach be the head coach for a game. Coach Driscoll sat in the bleachers and watched our team play.
Game one we played against University of Windsor; assistant coach Bobby Kennen coached the team. Windsor was a very physical team; we won a hard fought game. Game three we played against Windsor once again, I coached the team. Windsor went up early, we gained the lead in the second half and won again. Game three we played against Brock University, assistant coach Bruce Evans coached the team. Brock was another physical team; this was a good test for us. Brock punched us in the mouth first, but we earned another hard fought victory. We learned a lot about our players individually, and our team collectively. We learned who worked on their game in the summer, who can play multiple positions, and who will be our team leaders.
Between Game two and Game three we had an off day, we did not practice at all. We took our guys sight seeing to Niagara Falls on the Canada side and Downtown Toronto. Our guys really had a chance to bond together, especially when we ate dinner at a restaurant. Usually a few guys will talk, but most guys will text the whole time. Due to increased fees on phone calls and text messages, our guys were able to put their phones down and communicate with each other.
Canada Foreign Tour
- Practice Session 1: July 16th – July 20th
- Practice Session 2: July 31st – August 4th
- Depart for Detroit: August 5th
- Game 1 North Florida vs. Windsor: August 6th
- Game 2 North Florida vs. Windsor: August 7th
- Sight Seeing: August 8th
- Game 3 North Florida vs. Brock: August 9th
- Depart for Jacksonville: August 10th
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