It was great while it lasted. It lasted 17 years to be exact — the last 10 as head coach.
Matt Viator has been a fixture with the Cowboys football program for a long time. He’s won a lot of games — 78 if you’re wondering, which placed him atop the all-time career list of victories, tied with former coach Bobby Keasler.
Fixtures have a tendency to wear out — but not in this case; not after four Southland Conference championships, two undefeated regular seasons and five playoff appearances.
The Viator name has a rich history in this program, dating back to the coach’s late father Nolan, a former quarterback, legendary assistant coach and McNeese Hall of Famer.
We’re talking Blue and Gold royalty.
In the coaching business, your team colors run deep — especially after 17 years. But sometimes, the ever-present color of green trumps it.
Viator couldn’t pass up the chance to more than double his salary. So he’s decided to accept the head coach’s position at UL-Monroe, where he’ll replace Todd Berry, who was fired with three games remaining in mid-November.
Viator was officially introduced as the WarHawks new head coach at a press conference in Monroe on Tuesday, Dec. 15. He had not met with the media or issued any statements prior to Lagniappe’s press deadline.
McNeese athletic director Bruce Hemphill did release this statement Monday, Dec. 14, once Viator officially accepted the ULM job: “We have known for several days that coach Viator was being considered for the head coaching position at UL-Monroe. That fact is a compliment to both coach Viator and the success of our football program. We appreciate everything that coach Viator has done for McNeese football, the athletics department and the university over the past 17 years, the last 10 as our head coach.
“We wish him the very best at UL- Monroe. We will have an announcement on Wednesday (Dec. 16) about the McNeese head football coaching vacancy.”
His decision takes him away from his coaching roots of Southwest Louisiana and the fertile recruiting grounds of the bayous and Southeast Texas, where he has excelled on the collegiate and high school level.
He must believe Monroe will be greener pastures not only for the significant salary boost, but also his opportunity to coach and compete on the FBS level. It may be the lower tier of the upper leagues, but it’s still a move up in ranks against the likes of UL-Lafayette — McNeese will play the Ragin’ Cajuns next season — Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Appalachian State, Texas State and Troy State, among others.
The Sun Belt champion gets an automatic invite to the RL Carriers New Orleans Bowl, where UL-Lafayette has played the past four years. Other Sun Belt bowl-eligible teams often find themselves in post-season play in some Dot Com bowl. But with the ridiculous expansion of bowls (numbering 80 now), it seems every FBS team with a respectable record goes somewhere between now and Jan. 2.
So what prompted Viator’s move and decision now after 10 years?
Where does his departure leave McNeese, which has to be one of the top FCS jobs in the country? More on that later.
Well, besides the obvious, the 52-year-old Viator struck while the iron was hot.
He’s coming off a two-gold-star season, with an undefeated 10-0 record and a conference title. In the coaching business, you never know when the job offers and interest will dry up if you don’t make a move at the right time.
What else does he have to prove at McNeese?
He has those four Southland Conference crowns. He has won more league games than any coach in SLC history. He has two undefeated seasons; has never posted a losing season; is a four-time finalist for the FCS National Coach of the Year award and has notched impressive victories over several FBS teams and a near upset of then 19th-ranked Nebraska in 2014.
In recent years, he’s had either his offense or defense ranked at or near the top in the national FCS standings.
Viator was an integral leader in the long-awaited expansion of the athletic fieldhouse and overall facilities.
The black cloud that’s hovered over him the past 10 years has been his troubling 0-5 playoff record as head coach. The fact that his Cowboys were blown out in four of the five post-season losses has no doubt made his otherwise superlative resume radioactive.
Two or three playoff wins to go with his accomplishments thus far would have attracted other head coaching offers or FBS coordinator positions.
Some post season success would have put Viator on a fast track out of Lake Charles years ago if he’d chosen to leave. There would have been other head coaching or coordinator positions available to him. But the playoff drought was a hard sell.
So McNeese gained by losing, in a sense. It was able to keep its favorite son home.
But it couldn’t last forever.
The really good coaches like Viator will eventually get their opportunity.
Viator will follow McNeese’s other four-time conference championship-winning coach with this career move. In 1999, former Cowboys head coach Bobby Keasler left Lake Charles after nine years to try his luck at UL-Monroe. He was unable to come close to duplicating his success up north.
Keasler went 8-28 over three plus seasons before he resigned three games into the 2002 season. He retired from coaching a short time after.
Since 1951, the average stay for UL-M’s head coach has been three-plus years. Dixie White and Pat Collins held the job the longest, for seven-year runs from 1964 to ‘71 and 1981 to ‘87 respectively. John David Crow lasted four years. Charlie Weatherbie had a six-year ride, going 31-51 overall. But he did notch that 21-14 upset of Alabama during Nick Saban’s first season in Tuscaloosa in 2007.
Collins and his successor Dave Roberts are the only two coaches to post a winning percentage at the school.
It’s been said that Monroe is where coaching careers go to die.
The Indians/WarHawks haven’t had a whole lot of success other than winning a 1-AA national championship under Pat Collins in 1987 (in a 43-42 win over Marshall).
UL-Monroe has only qualified for one post-season bowl since moving up to FBS; that was a blowout loss to Ohio in the Independence Bowl.
Ironically, Todd Berry, the coach the team just fired, gave UL-M one of its biggest victories: a shocking 34-31 overtime win over then 8th-ranked Arkansas in 2012.
According to media reports, Berry was the lowest-paid FBS head coach, with a reported salary of $390,000 per year.
Will it be different for Viator in the FBS outpost that is Monroe?
Maybe. Maybe not.
UL-Monroe’s total athletic budget is just a notch more than that of McNeese. The football facilities are on par and not significantly better. The Monroe market is not an economic hotbed. It’s known mostly as the home of the bearded reality TV stars of Duck Dynasty and is the complete opposite of the hyper-growth region of Southwest Louisiana.
Monroe is a difficult place to attract recruits, much less talented transfers looking for a second chance.
UL-Monroe can’t outshine nearby Louisiana Tech, which is on a major football upswing right now. And Grambling is getting its act together under coach Broderick Fobbs (another former McNeese assistant under Viator).
With all that being said, I would give Viator a better than average chance of succeeding at UL-M. He’s still a high-energy, highly motivated, coach with superior organizational and recruiting skills. He will put together a high quality staff, and, given time, should post a winning record.
Viator is adept at dealing with the media, administration and boosters, and will undoubtedly offer a fresh, positive, optimistic message for selling the program.
An underlying financial side to Viator’s decision concerns his standing in Louisiana’s employee retirement system. After 30 years in the system, a retirement benefit is calculated on one’s highest three-year salary average. So, after three years at UL-Monroe, making between a reported $350,000 to $390,000 annually, Viator’s future retirement package from the state will be significantly higher than his reported $140,000 average salary from McNeese.
Financially speaking, with his family and retirement in mind, this was a no brainer for Viator.
From the football side of the equation, this had to be a difficult decision to make.
So where does this leave McNeese and the football program fresh off its 14th overall SLC championship?
As of Lagniappe’s press deadline, McNeese had not made any official announcement about the vacancy. But my belief is the university will act quickly and name assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Lance Guidry the Cowboys’ new head coach.
Offensive coordinator Tim Leger was probably given strong consideration, but in the end Guidry got the nod from both athletic director Bruce Hemphill and university president Dr. Philip Williams.
The 44-year-old Guidry has a total of nine years on the McNeese coaching staff. That total was acquired in four different time spans.
The former all conference defensive back for the Cowboys has been guiding the defense for the past three years.
He brings a varied and accomplished resume to the job from the defensive coordinator positions he held at Miami of Ohio and Western Kentucky before returning to McNeese in 2013. When both Miami and WKU found themselves without a head coach late in seasons, both schools tabbed Guidry as their interim head coach for post-season bowl games.
In 2011, Guidry guided Miami of Ohio to a 35-21 victory over Middle Tennessee State in the GoDaddy.com Bowl. Then in 2012, Guidry, as interim head coach for Western Kentucky, dropped a hard fought 24-21 game to Central Michigan in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in Detroit.
The fiery Guidry coaches with great passion and emotion, which has served him well with top-rated defenses at both McNeese and Western Kentucky. He was born and raised in Southwest Louisiana and knows how to recruit talent in Louisiana and Texas with a wide range of high school contacts and relationships.
The expected promotion of Guidry will ensure the program’s critical continuity on the recruiting trail and will have fan support. It will go a long way in the important task of retaining assistant coaches.
Viator will have to quickly assemble his staff at ULM. There’s no doubt he intends to lure several current Cowboy coaches to Monroe. That’s the way the business works. Head coaches who move on like to surround themselves with assistants they have a history with and trust.
Guidry will have to circle the wagons around valued position coaches and recruiters like Leger, Slade Nagle (running backs), Manny Michel (defensive line), Lark Hebert (linebackers), Chris Hampton (defensive secondary), Eman Naghavi (offensive line) and Landon Hoefer (quarterbacks).
My guess is half will remain with Guidry while the other half will join Viator at UL-Monroe. A higher assistant coaching salary will be a factor in decisions about who will follow Viator north.
The two men are close friends both on and off the football field. And I have to wonder whether both knew a few weeks ago this scenario might somehow play out.
When Viator became emotional and his voice cracked during the FCS playoff selection announcement at the Doland Fieldhouse on Nov. 22, I knew something was different.
He spoke about how much of an honor and privilege it is being McNeese’s head coach. He mentioned how thankful he was and the enjoyment of being a McNeese Cowboy. It was an unusual show of emotion for the always composed Viator.
When I questioned him about the matter later, he explained he was simply offering a pre-Thanksgiving message of pride and thankfulness to his team and assembled fans.
Maybe so — but I took it for much more.
I think Viator knew he was going to pursue other opportunities at season’s end, and might give serious thought to the possibility of moving on if an offer came through.
Viator leaves a region that has been his home, his comfort zone and the site of his family’s inner circle and his professional playground for his entire life.
Sometimes a move, a change and a new challenge are needed and good for the soul.
Viator says good-bye one win shy of becoming McNeese’s all-time winningest head coach. He led the football program with unparalleled confidence, optimism, grace and class. He gave McNeese everything he had to give and more.
The only thing left to do is show appreciation and respect and wish him luck.
Comments are closed.