Peers pick Fuselier again
Published 3:12 pm Saturday, December 27, 2014
Kinder came agonizingly close before falling just shy in its quest for back-to-back Class 2A state football championships.
But the Yellow Jackets’ head coach, Bret Fuselier, is 2-for-2.
He no doubt would rather have the bookend team trophies, but Fuselier won his second consecutive American Press Southwest Louisiana Coach of the Year award.
Fuselier, who is in his second year as head coach at Kinder, was the overwhelming choice again, receiving nine first-place votes and 42 points.
The Coach of the Year award, which began in 1949, is sponsored by the American Press but voted on by area coaches.
Sam Houston’s Vaughn Eggleston was second in the voting with four first-place votes and 26 points.
East Beauregard’s Gordy Glaser was third with three first-place votes and 24 points.
There were 11 coaches in the area who received first-place votes, an unusually high number over the years.
Fuselier is 28-2 in his two seasons at Kinder.
The Yellow Jackets (14-1) went undefeated through the regular season while winning the District 4-2A title and swept through the playoffs en route to a rematch with Many for the state championship in New Orleans’ Superdome.
The Yellow Jackets came up a hair short, leading most of the game before Many scored with just over 4 minutes to play to hand Kinder a heartbreaking 22-15 loss.
It was the fifth time a Kinder coach has won the award, but Fuselier is the first Yellow Jacket to win it back to back. Kinder legend Johnny Buck won it three times, the last in 1979.
The balloting is weighted with three points for first place, two for second and one for third.
Five standards are listed on the ballot, which is mailed to head coaches in Calcasieu, Cameron, Jeff Davis, Allen, Beauregard and Vernon parishes.
The criteria are:
l His efficiency in handling the talent at hand — did he get the most out of his players.
l His sportsmanship and influence on his players.
l His record for the season.
l Strength of schedule.
l His grasp and mastery of the finer points of the game, his tactics, his offensive and defensive astuteness and the ability to teach what he knows.
Rick Hickman
