Houma Navigation Canal bridge to close
January 12, 2010
Hilda Guidry Curole
January 14, 2010
Charlie Stubbs took a deep sigh of relief and then rose from his chair to address the media.
Nicholls State athletic director Rob Bernardi had just completed his opening remarks and had called on Stubbs to take the microphone to introduce himself to the Colonel community for the first time.
The 31-year wait was officially over.
Stubbs was finally a collegiate head coach.
“It just felt good,” Stubbs said of the moment he learned he’d been offered the coaching position. “I’m goal oriented and I’ve had fun at my other jobs but sometimes, you’d just like to say that you can see something all the way through.”
It wasn’t a lack of opportunities, as Stubbs said he’s been contacted numerous times throughout his career to be the head man of a program.
But the timing was never right for the father of four – until Nicholls came knocking on the door in December.
“I’ve sometimes had family meetings on jobs that might have come my way,” he said. “We would sit down as a family and man, I’d come in here all excited, telling the kids, ‘Hey, we’ve got this. I’ve got called by this school to do this, what do you think?’ And then we’d have a family vote and we’d say, ‘Okay, who wants to go?’ And I’d throw my arm up. And guess what? Nobody else would throw their arm up with me.”
But this time around, Stubbs said the Colonels’ job was a perfect fit for the 55-year-old coach and his wife Sandy.
“We’re empty-nesters now,” he said. “I can absorb myself in this … our student athletes — my wife and I can absorb ourselves with them. They’re our family.”
Sandy Stubbs echoed her husband’s thoughts and said she is also looking forward to embracing the Colonels’ players and community.
“There was some relief, but we were mostly really, really excited,” she said. “I’ve known for a really long time that he would be great leading young men and leading a program.”
Stubbs got into the coaching ranks for the first time in 1983 as a graduate assistant for his alma mater BYU, where he earned a Masters Degree in Physical Education.
Along the way, he’s been the offensive coordinator at eight different programs and has won high praise from others around the country because of his always-explosive, pass-oriented offensive arsenals.
“I can not think of anyone better than Charlie to be the next head coach at Nicholls State,” said former BYU head coach LaVell Edwards, who hired Stubbs for his first collegiate coaching job. “He is just an outstanding fit.”
Another of Stubbs’ former bosses – former Oregon State coach Dave Kragethorpe said Stubbs is the right man for the job.
“There is never an ‘I’ or ‘me’ in his approach to the game,” Kragethorpe said. “He is always a team player. He’s an outstanding football coach, but more importantly, he is an outstanding man … I have no doubt the people will fall in love with him and the product he puts on the field.”
At Nicholls, Stubbs’ expertise will be put to the test early and often as he is inheriting a program that is just 16-26 in the past four seasons.
But despite the lack of recent success, Stubbs said he has confidence he can make the Colonels a consistent Football Championship Subdivision playoff team, while also recruiting players who succeed in the classroom.
“We’ve got to get to where we have true student athletes,” he said. “I’ve had a few guys who have been fortunate and who’ve gone on to play in the NFL and make a living doing this, but I’ve coached a whole lot more who have to rely on their education … And I’ve won many championships with those kinds of kids who were great student athletes.”
Another challenge Stubbs will face comes on offense where the Colonels’ triple option attack under former coach Jay Thomas is a direct contrast to Stubbs’ more passing oriented attack.
This past season at Central Missouri, Stubbs’ offense threw the ball 403 times.
The Colonels have only thrown 363 passes in the past three seasons combined.
But despite the contrasting styles, Stubbs said with hard work, the Colonels could be putting plenty points on the scoreboard for years to come.
“I know that they’ve been running a different style offense geared toward the option,” he said. “And I know people might ask what’s my offensive philosophy. I guess my basic thing is to light up the scoreboard.”
