Westlake coach Fontenot resigns
WESTLAKE — After four seasons, Phil Fontenot is stepping down as the head coach of the Westlake Ram football program.
Fontenot met with the team Monday morning. His last day will be December 21st.
"I announced to the kids this morning that I am going to resign, effective December 21st," Fontenot said. "I want everyone to know that it has been a tremendous honor to be here. I have made some lifelong friends in this community.
"It wasn’t the school. It wasn’t the principal or anything like that. I went to him late last week. I felt like it was just time, for me personally and for my family, to step away and take a little pressure of and go ahead and let someone new come in and try their ideas. I wish the kids and the parents in this community the best of luck in the future and I hope everything works out for both sides."
Westlake went 2-8 in its first two seasons (2015, 2016) with Fontenot at the helm, but the Rams flourished late last season and upset No. 3 and undefeated Jena 27-20 in the first round of the playoffs and almost did it again in the regional round before falling to Northwest 31-21 and finishing the season 5-7.
Westlake went 2-8 this season and 11-31 in four season under Fontenot.
"This is not an exit move out of frustration," Fontenot said. "It is just this profession, and most people know, is a result based job.
"We are measured by wins and losses and we just couldn’t quite get it done as a group and win enough games consistently for me to feel good about coming to work every day. We had that decent season where we won in the playoffs and went two rounds deep. That helped the morale a lot. I am going to miss the people here, but I feel like the program is in better shape than it was four years ago."
Fontenot wouldn’t say much about his future other than he plans to stay in coaching, but not likely as a head coach.
"The world needs more bricklayers and less architects and by nature I am a bricklayer," Fontenot said. "I like to coach and I like to watch video.
"I love to burn the midnight oil and scheme on the dry-erase boards. When you become a head coach, a lot of that goes out the window to deal with everything else. It takes away from what you love to do on a daily basis."