Rebowe re-ups with Colonels

Relax, Nicholls fans.

Football coach Tim Rebowe is going to be back in the 2018 season.

Several sources in the Nicholls athletic department confirmed to The Times this week that Rebowe agreed to a reworked contract at the end of the 2017 season, which will keep him in Thibodaux for next season and hopefully beyond.

Rebowe coached the Colonels to the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs last season, pushing the team to an 8-4 season.

After the year, there were rumors that UL-Lafayette had interest in hiring Rebowe – either as head coach or perhaps as an assistant under new coach Billy Napier. The Ragin’ Cajuns gave Napier a huge assistant coach salary base. They used some of that money to pluck Southeastern head coach Ron Roberts to their staff.

But instead, Rebowe will be back in Thibodaux – coaching up a young team that should be better in 2018 than they were in 2017.

The Colonels return several starters on both sides of the ball and Rebowe said on early Signing Day that he was excited about the prospects which lie ahead in Thibodaux.

“I think we have a good group of guys coming back,” Rebowe said during a radio interview on signing day. “We don’t have a large number of scholarships to add to what we have, but we like the players we have returning and I think they’re eager to build on what we’ve earned this season.”

Rebowe’s work at Nicholls has been nothing short of amazing.

Prior to taking over in Thibodaux, the Colonels were one of the worst teams in the Southland Conference – if not in the entire country.

Under former coach Charlie Stubbs, Nicholls went 10-38 – most of those wins coming against teams not in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Not only did the Colonels lose, but they were non-competitive, losing soundly in a lot of their defeats.

But Rebowe changed all that.

When he took the job, Rebowe promised that those days would change and he laid out a detailed plan for to return the team to success.

He said he would recruit Louisiana first, focusing on a 100-mile radius from Thibodaux in all directions.

He’s done exactly that, plucking several of the top players from the Bayou Region and also from New Orleans, including Rummel quarterback Chase Fourcade, who has started from his first day on campus.

In 2017, the Colonels had more than 100 players on their roster and more than 90 percent of the team’s players were from Louisiana.

That local flavor allowed the Colonels to take the next step in 2017, upping three wins in 2015, then five wins in 2016 to eight wins and the playoff berth last year.

The Colonels have played their best in Southland games, posting a 15-12 record in conference games, including a 7-2 record this past season.

Under Rebowe, Nicholls also challenged some of the best teams in the country – almost beating both Georgia and Texas A&M in consecutive seasons.

Terms for Rebowe’s new deal were not made available at press-time.

70 COLONELS RECOGNIZED FOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS

The Colonels are winning in the classroom, as well.

Nicholls had 70 student-athletes throughout their athletic department named to the Fall 2017 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, according to a list released by the league last week.

The Fall Commissioner’s Honor Roll recognizes student-athletes in the sports of men’s cross country, women’s cross country, football, soccer and volleyball who maintain at least a 3.0 GPA in the semester for their respective sport.

Of the 70 Colonels honored, 21 student-athletes had a perfect 4.0. More than half of those 4.0 students come from women’s soccer where an astounding 11 Colonels have a perfect GPA.

Volleyball was represented by six student-athletes with perfect GPAs and football had four 4.0’s and 34 total honorees – the most of any fall sport at the school.

A total of 1,044 student-athletes made the Southland Conference Fall Commissioner’s Honor Roll – a significant improvement from the 1,008 student-athletes who made the list last fall.

Coach Tim Rebowe

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