I know it’s Mardi Gras and I’m still writing about McNeese football.
I’m well aware we’re deep into the basketball season, and believe me, hoops run deep to my core.
But it’s been that kind of off-season ever since Matt Viator left to become the head football coach at U.L.-Monroe.
Every passing week, there was a new development or announcement regarding Cowboys football. And rest assured, the university likes to keep its flagship sport at the top of your mind year-round.
You can bet your last boo-ray dollar that every time new head coach Lance Guidry gets behind a podium with a microphone for a press conference or public appearance, it will be a show, and worth paying attention to.
Maybe the first and only time Guidry will be upstaged was during the introduction of his first staff hires since he was named Viator’s successor. It took three former McNeese All Americas and school Hall of Famers to do it.
The two long tables fronting the assembled media and university officials were a who’s who of Cowboys football royalty.
Kerry Joseph, considered the best quarterback ever to wear the blue and gold, looked as though he could play another few years in the CFL. He’s finally put his playing career behind him, and will enter the fold as the wide receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator.
Zack Bronson, still humble and soft-spoken in spite of being arguably the best defensive back McNeese has ever produced (and at least shoulder to shoulder with Leonard Smith) is returning to coach — what else? — defensive backs.
Charlie Ayro, whose career total for most tackles at 486 still stands, is returning to the McNeese staff. He was last here in 2002 and ‘03 as an assistant. Now he’s back to coach his old position with the linebackers.
The last newcomer introduced was new running backs and special teams coach Dennis Smith, who comes in after stints at Florida A&M and Florida International.
The names of the former Cowboys are, of course, highly recognizable, especially to seasoned fans. For the newly minted McNeese ticket buyers, just a wee bit of research will reveal Joseph, Bronson and Ayro were the best at their positions and achieved great success at the professional level. As for Ayro, he’s been building an impressive coaching resume.
Guidry needed to make a splash with name appeal, PR and football cred. I think he nailed it on all three fronts.
A lot of coaches have been bouncing around the Power 5 FBS level — the mid-majors and beyond. Supporters get excited when they hear or read of a new coaching hot shot joining a staff. Optimism reigns. A new source of energy may prompt some bystanding fans to unleash their credit cards and buy season tickets.
Change is mostly viewed as a positive, even though sometimes it doesn’t turn out to be one in the long run. But fans have short memories.
PHOTO CREDIT TO: MSU Sports Information
It was imperative that Guidry hired top-notch coaches with historic ties to McNeese — ones who played at the highest level and can teach and coach these mysterious millennials as well. And I believe the trio of Bronson, Joseph and Ayro can do just that.
More important, and nearly overriding all of that, is the ability of the new hires and the existing staff to elevate recruiting and raise the bar in the selling and recruitment of key transfers.
Guidry says he supports cherry picking transfers to fill immediate needs. But under his leadership, the program will continue to build by recruiting high school talent.
The shifts in power among the Southland Conference’s elite teams seem to sway back and forth among Sam Houston, Southeastern Louisiana, McNeese, Stephen F. Austin and Central Arkansas on the backs of productive transfers in high profile positions.
Make no mistake about the Cowboys. Though their foundation is assembled by prep talent, they’ve scouted, tracked, analyzed, courted and signed.
That’s why the first-year head coach talked at length about how his new hired guns will represent and sell the product that is McNeese football.
“They are so natural in what they do because they are selling a product that is them. I told them to just go in and sell what McNeese was to [them]. When [Joseph, Bronson and Ayro] go into homes, they are selling themselves and McNeese. Some of them played in the professional football leagues, and all three are in our Hall of Fame. It’s been good on the road, and we are going full speed right now.”
The alphabet angle is used a lot on the recruiting trails. Lower tier Division 1 schools that McNeese is competing against — like U.L.-Lafayette, U.L.-Monroe, Tulane, Texas State, Arkansas State, Rice, U.T.-San Antonio — are selling the merits of playing in the FBS versus the FCS.
It’s a compelling story when it comes to TV exposure and the level of competition.
Guidry says that Joseph and Bronson can impress on top recruits that they play FCS and may then play in the NFL. You don’t need FBS for the NFL or the CFL to find you.
“Kids know we are going to win here and get rings on your hand. We are trying to win a national championship, of course, and that’s what we are trying to sell. But they also know they have a chance to play in the NFL if they come here and dominate.”
Joseph, with his NFL stints in Seattle and Cincinnati, and a Grey Cup Championship in the CFL in 2007 — the same year he won the league’s Most Outstanding Player award — will have instant credibility with the players.
You can’t discount his south Louisiana charm, which will win over the moms and dads.
He’s been staying busy with private coaching and doing a minority internship under Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints. All the while, he had his eyes on returning to McNeese some day.
“The timing was right,” said Joseph. “Lance has been trying to get me the last four or five years, and I told him, when you get [a head coaching job], I’m done. I will retire from playing. My wife told me when I am out there with the Nike camps or Elite 11, I’m in my element. When your better half tells you that, you better listen. Jon Gruden [former NFL head coach and current ESPN commentator] told me once that football has been very good to [me] and now it’s time to give back to the game.”
Bronson has much the same tale.
He had eight successful years in San Francisco as a starting safety on some very good 49er teams. He played, graduated and had a short coaching stint at McNeese as a graduate assistant in 2007-08. He’s polished his coaching skills at various high schools in Houston and Beaumont.
The Jasper, Texas, native is coming home in a way and coming full circle.
Great success at McNeese turned into more success in the NFL, which led to a second career in coaching.
Guidry says Bronson’s strengths are many; they include his “ability to relate to all people and players,” along with his “humble disposition that makes him a mentor and the ideal role model.”
Bronson says he will support players, teach them and share his knowledge. But he will expect a high level of accountability and responsibility in return. “I will hold them accountable to be great young men. From there, once they realize that accountability, and be responsible for their actions, it will carry over to the field.”
No one will question Ayro’s work ethic, character and commitment.
And patience.
He recalled in 2002, when Guidry told him “to go out and get some experience,” he added that when he got a head coaching job, he would hire him.
Ayro’s been honing his coaching skills in the preps ranks to prepare for an opportunity to climb the coaching ladder to college and maybe the NFL. “A lot of guys like me are just waiting for the opportunity. You know, once you’re in, you’re in.”
Guidry straddles the fence between old and new school thinking.
He wants to surround himself with McNeese blue bloods; stay within the McNeese family; hire and promote from the inside. On the other hand, he points to the hiring of Smith and touts his varied experiences from the University of Miami to Florida International down to the rural back roads of Mississippi junior colleges.
The promotion of Landon Hoefer to be offensive coordinator is a case in point.
Guidry relishes the fact that Hoefer will bring outside influences from his playing and coaching days at spread-happy Texas Tech, West Virginia and East Carolina.
This approach may run against the old guard fan base, who are comfortable with “coaches who come to McNeese and die here,” as Guidry said. But he doesn’t want loyalty to impede progress, innovative thinking and game planning.
Guidry wants to hire the best up-and-coming coaches and let them spread their wings and minds to the benefit of himself and the Cowboys. And if their tenure lasts only a few years because of their talents and shared success, so be it.
“If these [current assistant coaches] can get better jobs and further their careers, they need to go. They need to do that. They need to open up the McNeese circle. R.C. Slocum was a player at McNeese, and ended up being the head coach at Texas A&M. That’s what this business is about.
“I promote my coaches. I want to get the best coaches I can get here at McNeese. If they are better than me, then they are better than me. I don’t care. The better coaches I bring in make Lance Guidry look better.
“I don’t want any of them to leave. I want them to be here as long as they want to be here. But I know how this business is. When you have good guys, [other programs] come get you. That’s the way it is.”
Guidry welcomes “fresh, new ideas — from the outside.”
He’s hoping to get that and more from the Cowboy legends, who’ve been both on the inside and outside. There’s no doubt Hoefer and Smith will offer new approaches and analysis.
Guidry boldly admits he wants better assistant coaches and coordinators to make him “look better.” And if he looks better, than naturally the Cowboys will be better.
It’s like that advertising slogan … ”better ingredients, better pizza.” Everyone wins and everyone eats better.
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