Repair now or buy later?
September 9, 2014I have no clue who the good prep football teams are
September 16, 2014
The Charlie Stubbs Era is over for the Nicholls State University football team.
Multiple sources close to the Colonels’ football program informed the Tri-Parish Times early Sunday morning that Stubbs’ four-plus-year tenure would be coming to a close after the coach submitted his resignation to University President Dr. Bruce Murphy.
Nicholls confirmed the news on Sunday afternoon when they announced that Stubbs’ resignation had been accepted, citing “health issues” as the reason for his departure.
In the news release to announce Stubbs’ resignation, Nicholls Director of Athletics Rob Bernardi named Colonels Associate head coach Chuck Hepola as the man who will “oversee day-to-day football operations” until a replacement is hired. But the release does not state that Hepola is officially the school’s interim head coach.
A source close to the Colonels’ program said the Interim Coach would be named on Tuesday morning. Visit www.tri-parishtimes.com for news on the decision.
Stubbs’ final record as the Colonels coach was 10-38 over his four-plus seasons. His final game marked arguably the low point of his tenure as Nicholls’ coach – a 27-10 loss to Division II foe Henderson State, a defeat that dropped the Colonels to 0-3 on the 2014 season.
Nicholls has been outscored 144-33 in its three games this season – including Saturday’s loss and games with Air Force and Arkansas to open the year.
Attempts to reach Stubbs at press-time were unsuccessful. Nicholls Media Relations Director Jamie Bustos said late Sunday evening that Hepola and the rest of the team’s staff would be unavailable to media requests until “maybe Tuesday.” But in the release, Stubbs said now was the best time to step away from the program that he inherited in 2010.
“For more than four years, I have given my best effort to create the climate of change needed to support a winning football program here at Nicholls,” Stubbs said “During the past year, I have been diagnosed with major health issues, and I know that now is the time to step aside and focus my efforts on my health.”
“I appreciate the contributions that Coach Stubbs has made to the program over the past five years,” Bernardi added. “We wish him and his family the best.”
For Stubbs, his tenure as Nicholls’ head coach was a mixed bag.
The coach was hired to run the Colonels’ program in Jan. 2010 after former coach Jay Thomas was ousted from the program following two-straight three-win seasons in 2008 and 2009.
Nicholls hired Stubbs because of his rich pedigree for offensive prowess. Prior to his time with the Colonels, Stubbs was an offensive coordinator for successful offenses at Oregon State, Memphis, UNLV, Tulsa, Louisville and Central Michigan.
Arguably his most famous stop as a coach came from 1998-2000 when Stubbs was the quarterbacks coach at the University of Alabama, helping lead the Tide to the SEC Championship game in his tenure and earning a title of the 1999 SEC Coordinator of the Year.
Nicholls picked Stubbs from 42 applicants from across the country during a two-month coaching search conducted by a committee headed by local attorney Jason Dagate.
“He’s a great fit,” Bernardi said when announcing Stubbs’ hire. “He’s a great offensive mind and a true man of character. He’s going to do wonderful things for our program, and we’re very excited about the future.”
The program that Stubbs inherited at Nicholls was in big-time need of an overhaul, especially in academics.
When Stubbs took over the Colonels, Nicholls was in Academic Progress Rate (APR) purgatory and were in great danger to be served stiff penalties in the name of lost practice time and possibly postseason bans. Under Thomas, Nicholls was routinely several points below the NCAA-mandated minimum APR threshold and the team lost countless scholarships in the penalty phase as a repeat offender.
But under Stubbs, those problems changed and Nicholls shifted from a bottom-tier APR school to a benchmark for other Southland Conference schools to model.
For the 2012-13 year, Nicholls football posted a 946 APR – up an astounding 137 points from the 809 mark the team posted in 2004-05, which resulted in the loss of 6.3 scholarships.
The Colonels administration was so impressed with the drastic academic turnaround that Nicholls rewarded Stubbs with a three-year contract extension in 2011, making him the first-ever Nicholls coach to receive a multi-year deal.
“We are just so pleased with those strides that we’ve made academically under Coach Stubbs,” Bernardi said in a 2013 interview with the Tri-Parish Times. “The progress is incredible. In a lot of ways, it’s helped save the program. I know the wins haven’t been as frequent as we would have liked yet, but there is a lot of positive things going on here as he tries to turn around this team.”
But for all of the successes that Nicholls has had off the field under Stubbs, the Colonels have not been able to put together a winning product under the coach.
In his first season, Nicholls finished 4-7 with a respectable 3-4 mark in Southland Conference games. But in 2011 and 2012, the Colonels hit a wall and won just two combined games (both against Evangel College, an NAIA foe), while posting an 0-14 record in conference games – most of the losses coming in lopsided fashion.
Nicholls was more competitive in 2013, starting the season 4-2, which included both a victory against Football Bowl Subdivision foe Western Michigan and Southland Conference archrival Northwestern State.
But a rash of mid-season injuries doomed Nicholls and the team lost the final six games of the season to finish 4-8. In five of those six losses, the Colonels allowed 49 or more points.
A former player with that 2013 Colonels team said he believes Stubbs is a good coach and a fine man. Asking to remain anonymous, the former Nicholls player said the team will miss Stubbs’ leadership.
“He’s a great dude, man – I’m sad,” the former player said. “I thought he did a good job. We made the most of what we had. My whole career, we had injuries or things that took us out of our game.”
But with a lot of returning starters back in 2014, Nicholls had high hopes that this year would be the year that it all turned around and the team returned to contention.
But after three-straight lopsided losses, Stubbs felt it was time to step aside and let someone else take control of the program.
Nicholls will travel to North Texas on Saturday – kickoff scheduled for 2:30 p.m. After that game, the Colonels will open up Southland Conference play with two-straight road games.
The Colonels travel to Central Arkansas on Sept. 27 and to McNeese State on Oct. 4.
Both opponents defeated the Colonels last season.
No information has been offered regarding the search for a full-time head football coach at Nicholls.
For the time being, Hepola is in charge and the Colonels are moving forward with a new man on the sidelines for the first time in four-plus years.
“I wish Coach Stubbs the very best and am thankful for all of his contributions to the Colonel football program,” Murphy said. “Being a head football coach is a demanding job, and I support his decision to focus on his health at this time.”
Former Nicholls State University football coach Charlie Stubbs stares down the field before leading the Colonels onto the field for a game this season. Stubbs resigned this week after four-plus years and 48 games at the helm of the Colonels. The veteran coach said health problems led to his decision to step down. The Colonels have not formally named an Interim Head Coach to replace Stubbs. For the time being, assistant coach Chuck Hepola is running the program’s day-to-day operations.
