Colonels’ successes make alums proud

By now, it’s no secret locally. It’s a tale that has been told many times before.

The Nicholls State University football team has turned itself around after hitting rock bottom. The process has been long and strenuous since hiring coach Tim Rebowe, but now, the Colonels are an upper-echelon contender in the Southland Conference and also on the national landscape.

And no one is happier than their alums — all around the area — who are rooting on the team every step of the way.

Spirits are high right now in the Nicholls football community as the Colonels enter the 2018 season ranked No. 18 in the STATS FCS Preseason Poll, while being picked to finish No. 2 in the Southland.

“What they’re doing there is just remarkable,” said Central Lafourche football coach Keith Menard, a former Nicholls quarterback. “I am so proud of the job that Coach Rebowe and those guys have done there. They’ve come so far in such a short amount of time. My time at Nicholls was special — it was one of the best times of my life. We can’t get back out there as much as we’d like, but it’s great to see how far they’ve come and continue to go.”

The transformation has been awfully impressive.

When Rebowe took over in Thibodaux, the Colonels may have been the worst team in American throughout the Football Championship Subdivision.

Former coach Charlie Stubbs’ tenure at Nicholls was disastrous. From 2012-2014, Nicholls won just 5 games in 35 tries and even that stat is misleading as to how uncompetitive the Colonels were. Just one of those five wins was in Southland Conference Competition.

Three others came against NAIA or Division III competition — games that Nicholls, in essence, bought victories against subpar competition.

The team lost 10 games from 2012-14 by 40 or more points and they were beaten by 14 or more points 25 times in their 30 losses.

At the end of the Stubbs’ regime, the Colonels lost 18-straight games — including the games coached by interim coach Steve Axman in 2014.

In that season, Nicholls allowed 602 points (50.2 points per game).

The team was outgained by more than 3,000 yards on the season and by more than 250 yards per game.

But this rainstorm had a rainbow at the end of it and that’s where we are right now in the Colonels’ program.

Since Rebowe has taken over, Nicholls has drastically changed its program around — both on and off the field.

On the field, Nicholls regained its competitiveness. The team didn’t win many games until 2016 — Rebowe’s second season. But in 2015, the Colonels had several near-misses.

In year three, the Colonels went undefeated at home and made the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs.

“They’ve come so far,” former local coach and current oilfield worker Travis Douglas said, a former Nicholls player. “I think when we got Coach Rebowe in here, we knew that good things would happen. Coach Rebowe coached me when I was a player, so I knew his style and the things he could do. But I think we all thought that it would take longer than it has. The progress they’ve made is just incredible.”

Linebacker Hezekiah White was one of the few Nicholls players left on the roster who has played in both regimes. He said to live this transition first-hand has been nothing short of incredible.

“You talk about us losing every game our freshman year and last year, we’re in the playoffs,” White said. “It’s amazing. It started out a little rough, but thanks to Coach Rebowe and staff, we’ve changed the culture here.”

But more important than the change on the course is the change Nicholls football has made off it.

The Colonels have a new vibe and it’s been present from the day Rebowe took over at Nicholls.

The team recruits more locally now. That’s a promise that Rebowe made from the day of his introductory press conference. The team is almost exclusively comprised of Louisiana players and the vast majority of those guys are from 90 miles of Thibodaux in all directions, including several guys from Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes.

But more important than the recruiting strategies is the vibe and energy within the team.

Rebowe has gotten into the community heavily throughout his tenure, re-generating the support that the team had been missing in the past.

As a result, attendance is risen drastically, which helps the team’s ability to win at home, while also generating revenue for the school’s athletic department.

And the alums think that the team is only just getting started.

“We got that transfer running back and I think that can help put us over the top,” Douglas said. “I think that was one of the things that we needed and could have used last year, but now, we have him and I think it’s going to be a difference maker.”

“This should be as strong of a team as they’ve had in a long time,” Menard added. “They have the pieces in place and a lot of guys with experience. The coaching staff will get the most out of them and I know we’re all excited to see the team come together.”

Nicholls

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