My chance to humble brag
November 11, 2014
Prep playoffs are finally here
November 11, 2014
The Nicholls State University football team’s 2014 season will come to a close eight days from today when the Colonels take the field against Southeastern.
But don’t expect Colonels’ Athletic Director Rob Bernardi to relax or take too many vacation days during the opening weeks of the offseason.
He’ll be far too busy recruiting the team’s new head coach to Thibodaux.
The Colonels are already taking applications for their soon-to-be vacant football coaching gig – a process that has already netted a handful of applicants from across the country.
But Bernardi stressed repeatedly in an interview with The Times this week that the team’s coaching search is far from over, adding he’s busy day-in and day-out contacting names around the country.
Bernardi hopes to have a hire made by the first weeks of December. Until then, he’s reaching out to and courting names every hour of every day to try and find the university’s next head man.
“We’re taking applicants right now, and we’re actively recruiting people to apply,” Bernardi said from his office this week. “We’re not sitting on our butts waiting for people to click ‘apply.’ We’re actively going out and finding people that we think would be a good fit for us. We’ve spoken to a lot of people, and we’ve conducted a few interviews, and we’re very optimistic that by sometime in early December, we’re going to have someone named as our next coach. We’re pleased with the folks who have shown interest in our program. Between the folks who have already applied and the folks we’re recruiting ourselves, we’re going to find someone that’s a good fit for us.”
WHAT BERNARDI IS LOOKING FOR
Recruiting was a word that Bernardi used repeatedly in this past week’s 20-minute interview – it’s a skill he desperately wants the team’s next coach to have.
The Colonels’ AD praised the quality of prep football in Lafourche and the surrounding parishes, touting that Nicholls would be best suited to field a football team that cherry-picks a lot of that local talent into its program.
Bernardi said he doesn’t believe the program is as far away from being competitive as people think, despite their current 0-10 record for the 2014 season. He said he thinks the Colonels can compete right away if the new coach is able to salvage the team’s 2015 recruiting class, while also stockpiling talent in 2016 – the eventual hire’s first full recruiting season.
“We want someone who is just a fanatical recruiter,” Bernardi said. “We want someone who understands our area and appreciates the fact that our area is so talent rich. There’s no reason why a lot of our recruits can’t come from right here in this area – I’m talking about Thibodaux, Houma, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Lafayette and everything in between. There are so many talented players in our area, so that’s what we’re looking for – someone who will be aggressive and will want to compete right away to attempt to get some of those players.”
Bernardi said critics sometimes doubt whether such a transformation can take place for Nicholls football – a program that historically has been unsuccessful and that lacks the resources of other schools in Louisiana and throughout the Southland Conference.
But the AD thinks he has proof that such a turnaround can be completed.
The Colonels’ AD pointed to women’s basketball coach DoBee Plaisance and her ability to take Nicholls from an NCAA bottom feeder to a program with aspirations to win the Southland Conference.
If it can be done in one sport, Bernardi said he always asks himself why can’t it be done in another?
“Women’s basketball is now in its 40th year, and the first 35 or so of those years, unfortunately, weren’t very productive,” Bernardi said. “But we hired a coach who is a tenacious recruiter, and she’s turned the program around. I think the same thing can happen here for football.”
BERNARDI ADMITS TO CONVERSING WITH BIG NAMES
Immediately after former coach Charlie Stubbs announced his resignation to focus on medical issues, multiple reports claimed that Bernardi reached out to Larose native and longtime premier college football assistant coach Ed Orgeron to gauge his interest in the job.
The reports state that Orgeron declined, citing a desire to take a full year off from coaching to spend time with family.
Bernardi confirmed his interest in Orgeron this week, confirming that he made contact with the veteran coach in an attempt to lure him to Thibodaux once Stubbs stepped away.
A recent story in ESPN The Magazine has quoted Orgeron as saying that his desire is to return to coaching as a defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator with a major program.
Stubbs made in the mid-$100,000 mark as the Colonels’ head coach. Orgeron can command upwards of $500,000 or even more on the open market.
“We did make contact with him, yes,” Bernardi said. “He and I enjoyed a nice, productive conversation.”
Bernardi also confirmed that he more recently interviewed Tulane Co-Defensive Coordinator Lionel Washington – a veteran assistant coach and Lutcher native who would have rich recruiting ties in the Bayou Area’s prep football scene.
The Colonels AD said that he’s also interviewed many other candidates in recent weeks – some over the phone and others in person. Bernardi said the process is a bit delicate because many of the names he’s spoken to are employed by other teams around the country. This could be why the current list of applicants are coaches that are mostly either high school coaches, unemployed or coaches at very small colleges.
“Those are just guys who have formally filled out and sent in their applications,” Bernardi said. “That’s not a complete list of the people we’ve reached out to, spoken to or will continue to talk with in the coming days and coming weeks. I understand that list is out there, but I don’t think it’s indicative of where exactly we are in our search.”
A name Bernardi didn’t mention by name is UL-Lafayette assistant coach Tim Rebowe – a candidate who applied the Colonels’ job when Stubbs was hired in 2010.
Multiple anonymous sources close to Rebowe, a former Nicholls assistant coach, have confirmed to The Times this week that Rebowe would likely consider the Colonels’ job again this go-round but is unsure about applying, in part because of the Ragin’ Cajuns’ success in recent years and the potential that UL-Lafayette coach Mark Hudspeth could get a higher profile job for he and his staff.
Rebowe’s son Tyler is a freshman infielder on the Colonels’ baseball team.
“He’s very interested,” the source said this week. “It’ll all come down to timing and making sure this is the right fit.”
Bernardi also said that members of the current staff aren’t excluded from chasing the job and that all avenues will be considered to find the right fit.
No one currently on staff has formally applied to be the team’s head coach at press-time.
“If the best man is already here on our staff, then we’d be comfortable going in that direction,” Bernardi said. “I’ve already spoken with someone currently on staff about the position, and we will consider that if we deem that person to be a great fit – the best fit for our program.”
ALL NAMES WILL BE CONSIDERED
When the Colonels hired Stubbs, Nicholls football made a total 180-degree philosophical shift from a triple option program to a spread attack – a transformation that Stubbs said repeatedly was a factor in his slow start in Thibodaux.
Bernardi acknowledged the difficulties that change created but added that he won’t be afraid to do it again if the team’s new coach warrants a different style.
The Colonels’ AD said it would be foolish for the Colonels to turn away a quality candidate because of his philosophy or scheme.
“That’s not something that I, or any other athletic director, would be very comfortable doing,” Bernardi said. “It’s not my place to attempt to dictate to a coach what formations he could or should be running. That’s just not something that I’m going to do.”
He said that his sole focus is finding a motivated, hungry candidate that is willing to embrace the challenge of turning the Colonels’ program around.
Bernardi said he understands that this hire is an incredibly important one for the future of the Colonels’ program, but he believes that he’ll find a guy who possesses the magic needed to turn things around.
“We think that we’re not far away,” Bernardi said. “We’re confident that if we make the right hire, we can turn this thing around and get a football program that our community can rally around.”
