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Cowboy Corral

By ALEX HICKEY

Texas State Hires Nagle

Posted February 5, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Filed Under FCS Football, Southland Conference | Leave a Comment

Stop if you’ve heard this one before: former McNeese player/coach gets coaching job in Southland Conference.

Former Cowboys quarterback Slade Nagle became the latest to become part of the MSU extended coaching tree, getting hired by Texas State as quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator on Friday. Nagle had previously been offensive coordinator under Scott Stoker at Northwestern State, and spent last season as an administrative intern at LSU.

UTSA Football Bypassing SLC

Posted January 31, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Filed Under FCS Football, Southland Conference | Leave a Comment

It looks like McNeese won’t have another new conference football opponent after all.

Texas-San Antonio has decided its fledgling football program won’t be joining the Southland Conference, which it is a member of in all other sports. The Roadrunners will play their first game in 2011, and were originally scheduled to become SLC football members in 2013.

Now, UTSA athletic director Lynn Hickey (no relation) said the school will compete as an FCS Independent with the goal of attaining Bowl Subdivision status by 2015.

Lamar, which begins play next year, will become the league’s ninth football member in 2011.

What remains to be seen is how the other Southland members react to UTSA’s move. As Sunday’s piece from the San Antonio Express News indicates, fellow conference administrators aren’t so pleased with the prospect of UTSA being a Southland member while hunting for something bigger. The best-known model that exists is Notre Dame being a football Independent while holding Big East membership in all other sports — a fact that raises the ire of many in the Big East community.

The other question is what direction the Southland will move in when UTSA does leave the conference in all sports, which is bound to happen once the football program finally latches on somewhere. There will be a need to add a 12th school in that event, and there aren’t too many obvious choices to fill that void.

However, one would have to suspect that Texas-Pan American and Houston Baptist — members of the brand-new Great West Conference, a league that extends from Utah Valley to New Jersey Tech — would logically be on the list of potential UTSA replacements. (Neither program plays football).

Conference presidents will be meeting in Galveston on June 4, when it’s likely that the topic will be delved into in greater detail.

No Auburn Game in 2012

Posted January 29, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Filed Under Football, McNeese State | Leave a Comment

Contrary to a report published in the Decatur (Ga.) Daily, McNeese State athletic director Tommy McClelland said that the Cowboys will not be playing Auburn in 2012. The game had been scheduled in 2008 but was nullified last year when a conference game against Nicholls State was moved into the originally scheduled open date.

McClelland said that McNeese will not owe Auburn any money for a buyout.

Check tomorrow’s American Press for more details.

Another Brown A Cowboy

Posted January 15, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Filed Under Football, McNeese State, Recruiting | Leave a Comment

McNeese State already has two guys from Baton Rouge Central in its upcoming recruiting class. And a guy with the last name of Brown.

It looks like the Cowboys are going to add another player that fits both of those descriptions — only this one has a little more size. It’s been reported in Baton Rouge that Central defensive tackle Sean Brown is orally committing to McNeese for next year.

Brown is a 6-foot, 290-pound DT who amassed 45.5 tackles (8.5 for loss) and forced four fumbles in his senior season. Size on the interior of the defensive line was not a strong spot for the Cowboys this past season, but Brown figures to be an answer to that problem; particularly if he bulks up some more after entering McNeese strength and conditioning coach Zeb Hawkins’ training program.

Brown joins high school teammates Will and Wes Briscoe in committing to the Cowboys. Brown told a Baton Rouge newspaper that he had also been offered by Southeastern Louisiana, Central Arkansas and Southern Illinois.

Southeastern and McNeese have engaged in a few recruiting battles this offseason, with the Cowboys also receiving oral commitments from Sulphur wide receiver Will Hassein and St. Louis Catholic wide receiver Kenny Brown over the Lions.

Brown A Cowboy

Posted January 13, 2010 at 7:57 pm
Filed Under Football, McNeese State, Recruiting | Leave a Comment

St. Louis Catholic coach Mike Johns confirmed on Wednesday that Saints wide receiver Kenny Brown has orally committed to McNeese. Brown is the second local wide receiver to commit to the Cowboys, joining Sulphur’s Will Hassein.

Check tomorrow’s American Press for more details — and when national signing day comes on Feb. 3, a more in-depth look at both Brown and Hassein once things are made official.

Nicholls Gets Stubbs

Posted January 5, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Filed Under Nicholls State, Southland Conference | Leave a Comment

And they say Mules can’t reproduce.

A second member of the Central Missouri coaching staff has landed a head coaching job in the Southland Conference this year as Nicholls State announced the hiring of Central Missouri offensive coordinator Charlie Stubbs as the Colonels’ new head coach. Stubbs takes over for the fired Jay Thomas.

Stubbs comes to Nicholls from Central Missouri, where he worked under newly hired Sam Houston State head coach Willie Fritz. Stubbs was only with the Mules for two seasons, though. Prior to that, he worked as the offensive coordinator for Steve Kragthorpe at Louisville and Tulsa. He was also the quarterbacks coach at Alabama from 1998-2000. Stubbs’ coaching career began in 1983 at BYU, and he was a member of the staff for the Cougars’ 1984 national championship team.

With the hiring of Stubbs, it is clear that the triple-option is now a thing of the past at Nicholls. The man has written books titled “Wide Open Football” and “Developing an Explosive Offense.” The Colonels of the future may bear more of a schematic resemblance to Stephen F. Austin than Navy.

The key to that transition will be getting the right personnel. The Colonels probably won’t abandon option plays altogether next season, but they’ll be running those plays out of shotgun formations rather than a traditional triple-option look with a fullback and wingback.

With no ties to Louisiana, we’ll see how Stubbs wins over the Colonel fanbase. Of course, as everyone knows, winning is the easiest way to accomplish that task.

Happy New Year

Posted January 4, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

It’s a simple, even borderline trite statement.

Happy New Year.

But in 2010, I hope that statement actually rings true. It would be a lie to say that 2009 wasn’t a tough year for us at the American Press — two of our most beloved co-workers, Brian Guilbeau and Hector San Miguel, passed away within a month of one another.

As long as I’m here, I’ll carry along memories of both.

Brian kept the chair warm on the McNeese beat from the time Gary Laney left until I was hired last fall, and I would have been completely lost without his help — both in doing the beat and getting around town. But the best moments were those spent on Southland Conference road trips, particularly the otherwise unbearable drive up to Conway, Ark. to see McNeese play Central Arkansas in the 2008 season finale. Undoubtedly the highlight of that trip was stopping at Bill Clinton’s favorite restaurant in Little Rock and ordering a steak that was so huge that Brian felt compelled to take a picture. It took the two of us and photographer Brad Puckett to finish the thing.

One of the best aspects of Brian was that he had the same strange sense of humor that I do, which led to delightfully oddball things such as his decision to use the song “The Stanky Leg” for my personal ringtone.

As a result of working in different departments I didn’t interact with Hector as much as I did with Brian, yet each time was a memorable experience. When I first moved down, he’d stop my desk about once a week just to check in and see how I was adjusting to life in Louisiana.

Hector also had the easiest question to answer when I came down for my job interview. Scooter Hobbs was taking me around the office to meet people, and when Hector introduced himself to me, this is what he said:

“I just have one question for you. Can you drink beer?”

Since I answered in the affirmative, Hector told Scooter, “I think you have your guy.”

In the same way that Brian could easily make anyone laugh, Hector was known for breaking all kinds of news stories, big and small. Applying lessons learned from both seems like as good a resolution as any for 2010. Though both are impossible to replace, it’s important for their legacy and spirit to live on.

Rice Is Nice

Posted December 29, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Filed Under McNeese State, Men's Basketball | Leave a Comment

HOUSTON — I’m sitting courtside before McNeese’s game at Rice, and two things immediately stick out about the Tudor Fieldhouse.

1. The place is immaculate. This is easily the first basketball arena I’ve ever been to where I would not hesitate to eat something that was dropped on the floor.

2. Most schools have the retired numbers of former greats hanging from the rafters. Not here. There are six retired numbers, mind you, but those are hanging from the walls. The most prominent space is saved for banners listing the names of each of the school’s Rhodes Scholars, Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winners. I’m going to venture a guess that they don’t have a similar display at, say, Kentucky’s Rupp Arena.

Briscoe Brothers Commit to McNeese

Posted December 18, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Filed Under Football, McNeese State, Recruiting | Leave a Comment

As first reported by a Baton Rouge newspaper, Baton Rouge Central football players Will and Wes Briscoe have committed to play at McNeese State.

The twins — Will is a quarterback and Wes is a wide receiver — helped lead Central to the Class 5A quarterfinals this season. McNeese coach Matt Viator won’t be able to comment on the brothers until national signing day on Feb. 3.

Will also became a bit of an internet phenomenon early this year after completing a behind-the-back two-point conversion pass, as seen in the linked video.

Nicholls Narrows It Down

Posted December 17, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Filed Under Nicholls State, Southland Conference | Leave a Comment

It shouldn’t take long before Nicholls State announces who will take the reins of its football program for next year.

The site FootballScoop.com is reporting that the Colonels are down to two candidates for the position: Louisiana-Lafayette assistant coach Tim Rebowe and St. Charles Catholic High School coach Frank Monica.

The site did not say what the timeline is for Nicholls to make the announcement, but with only two candidates remaining it figures to be fairly imminent.

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