Marshall hires former Cowboy HC Guidry as defensive coordinator
Jim Gazzolo, Special to the American Press
Former McNeese State head football coach and player Lance Guidry has been named the new defensive coordinator at Marshall University.
Guidry confirmed he accepted the position over the weekend.
“This is a great opportunity for me,” Guidry said. “Being on the field, running my own defense on the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) level, it is my dream.”
The four-year starter at defensive back for the Cowboys joins Charles Huff’s staff at the West Virginia school. Huff was named Thundering Hurd head coach earlier this month. Huff has been a coach under both Nick Saban at Alabama and James Franklin at Penn State.
“Coach Huff is a guy I really believe in,” Guidry said. “He has a great coaching background and somebody I really think is going places in this business.”
Guidry, a native of Welsh, was the head coach at McNeese from 2016-18, replacing Matt Viator who he served as the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach under for three seasons.
Viator left after the 2015 campaign to go to Louisiana-Monroe, opening the door for Guidry.
“At the time it seemed like the right move,” Guidry said. “It was a head coaching job at my alma mater. I’m sorry it didn’t work out better.”
McNeese did not renew Guidry’s contract after the 2018 season. His record with the Cowboys was 21-12, but he never could lead them to the postseason.
In 2018 McNeese started off 5-1 but faltered down stretch and missed the playoffs. After the season they were handed a one-year playoff ban for academics by the NCAA.
Guidry admitted that he was never totally comfortable in his role atop the McNeese program.
“My intention was never to be a head coach,” he said. “I love coaching ball, it is all the other stuff I didn’t like.”
Guidry’s replacement, Sterling Gilbert, was much the same way.
He left after just one season at McNeese to take over as offensive coordinator at Syracuse, where he will start his second year in that position this fall.
While a player at McNeese, Guidry was a two-time All-Southland Conference performer and a leader of the Cowboys.
His defense led the way to the last Southland Conference championship for McNeese back in 2015.
The Cowboys finished 10-1 that season and were Southland Conference champs. During that year the Cowboys finished third in scoring defense, fourth in rushing defense and 12th in total defense under Guidry.
“That was a great team, a great bunch of kids to work with,” said Guidry.
Guidry twice served as interim head coach at the FBS level, at Miami of Ohio in 2010 and with Western Kentucky in 2012.
Both times he coached bowl games, finishing with a 1-1 mark.
After McNeese Guidry spent the 2019 season as the defensive coordinator at SLC rival Southeastern Louisiana and last year as the safeties coach at Florida Atlantic.
Florida Atlantic University