Terrebonne teacher names Middle School Teacher of the Year
August 5, 2015
Believe in your own abilities
August 5, 2015
It’s pretty hard to find positives in Nicholls’ 2014 football season.
The Colonels didn’t win a game, were blown out in most of the losses and had to endure a season full of injuries up and down the depth chart.
But with a new coach, a new swagger and a slew of returnees coming back, many around the football fieldhouse preach that the end of the struggles are near.
The Nicholls football team took part in the Southland Conference’s Media Days this past week, which were held at the L’auberge Resort in Lake Charles.
Throughout the press conference, the Colonels’ players and first-year coach Tim Rebowe emphasized that 2015 is a new year and the Colonels have buried the skeletons of the past and are focused on a new, brighter future.
“Nicholls has had success when we’ve had certain people in the (head coaching) position, so it can be done,” Rebowe said. “I’m excited. … We have some work to do, we’re not going to sugar coat it. … But I definitely think you can have some success in Thibodaux, Louisiana.”
“Our team has a whole new atmosphere behind us,” Colonels halfback Michael Henry added. “In the locker room, in the field, outside the field – just everything we do is totally different, but in a better way.”
For the Colonels, the man leading the change is Rebowe – a man who seems to have landed in this position through a stroke of fate.
Rebowe said he grew up watching Nicholls football as a child. He remembers walking up and down the bleachers of John L. Guidry Stadium as a young boy when his brother Rusty Rebowe played for the Colonels in the 1970s.
From those early days, Tim Rebowe evolved and became a coach – another gig that took him into Nicholls’ stadium.
Rebowe was an assistant coach with the Colonels from 1995-2000. In the early days of Rebowe’s tenure, the Colonels were struggling. A few years later, they were Southland Conference contenders.
Those memories are why Rebowe is so optimistic that a turnaround is near – he’s seen it happen before first-hand.
Prior to joining the Colonels, Rebowe was an assistant coach at UL-Lafayette for more than a decade. The Colonels coach said he’s not nervous as his first season as a collegiate head coach nears, touting that he feels comfort in knowing that he has close to 20 years of experience as an assistant coach to fall back on.
“I think I’ve paid my dues, and I’ve kind-of come full circle,” Rebowe said. “I think everywhere you go, you try to take a little bit of everywhere you’ve been. You take the good and the bad and try to put it all together to run your own program. I’m excited to be back in the community, not only Thibodaux, but the whole Bayou Region.”
Offensively, Rebowe said the Colonels will operate a spread offense that will attempt to put the team’s athlete in space.
That system seems to be ideal for returning halfback Michael Henry, who rushed for 1,005 yards and six touchdowns last season.
Rebowe said the one-two punch of Henry and returning quarterback Tuskani Figaro make him feel good about the team’s ability to score points.
Figaro set the Colonels’ all-time rushing record in 2013, but redshirted in 2014 to polish his passing skills.
“As being a coach who’s been on the defensive side of the ball, I do know this – you have to run the football,” Rebowe said. “I don’t care what league you’re in, you have to run the ball to be successful. Just talking about (Henry) and (Figaro), we might try to play with two footballs if we can, because we’ve got to get those guys going.
“If we can run the football, we’ll have a tremendous amount of success, because it will open up so many things for us.”
Henry said he thinks the coach’s statements will be a reality. The halfback said he’s worked with Figaro throughout the summer, and the quarterback is better than he’s ever been.
In 2013, Figaro rushed for 1,103 yards and seven touchdowns. As a passer, he completed 83-of-157 passes for 1,135 yards and eight scores.
“Tuskani is a great playmaker – running the ball, throwing the ball,” Henry said. “We’re definitely glad to have him back.”
Defensively, the Colonels will need a lot of help after allowing 50.2 points and 538.4 yards per game last season.
But the Colonels have several returning players off last year’s defense, including defensive back B.T. Sanders, who recorded 79 tackles with two interceptions this past season.
Sanders said the 2015 defense will be better, because the vibes around the team are better. The defensive back touted Rebowe’s defensive pedigree, and said that the new coach has the talent and intellect to make sure that Nicholls can fix its struggling ways.
No one wants a repeat of this past season. These Colonels tout that those days are over, and that a new, brighter future is here.
“What happened last year, that’s motivation for us every day,” Sanders said. “We just have to keep moving forward and we just want to get better and continue to improve ourselves.
“We can’t look back. It’s not an option.”
