Longtime Ellender basketball coach resigns

For the first time in more than a decade, the Ellender boys’ basketball team will have a new coach when the season tips off in the fall.

After compiling more than 300 wins in his 11-year stint at Ellender, Patriots coach Scott Gauthreaux announced this week that he has resigned from his position with the team.

Gauthreaux will stay on with the school as a teacher and said his decision to step away from the team is to spend more time with his family.

The 44-year-old coach has daughters in ninth and seventh grades and both are active in athletics – he said he looks forward to watching them progress in their endeavors.

“Being involved in basketball, you give up all of your holidays, which is what I’ve been doing since probably my 10th grade year of high school,” Gauthreaux said. “From playing high school ball and then college ball and then coaching for the past 20 years, you give up Thanksgiving, Christmas and your Mardi Gras. With the girls getting older, they’ll be playing a lot of school ball and travel ball and this will just give us a lot of time to spend time as a family, because I’m sure the next six years will fly by with my daughters.

“Maybe now, we can take a trip as a family during a holiday.”

Gauthreaux’s tenure at Ellender was highly successful in the win/loss column.

In 11 seasons with the team, the coach posted a 311-83 total record, including multiple district championship seasons.

The highlight of the coach’s tenure came in 2007 when the Patriots were the LHSAA Class 5A State Runners-Up.

In 2011-12, Ellender finished 23-9 and was defeated from the playoffs in the Regional round.

Gauthreaux said he started to have an inkling in the middle of the season that he needed a break from the profession.

The coach said those feelings were confirmed when he wasn’t able to regain excitement after summer practices.

Prior to his time as a Patriot, Gauthreaux also coached at Central Catholic and Vandebilt – a career that stretches 20 seasons.

He said he consulted with Ellender women’s basketball coach Kenneth Dixon before making the decision to take 2012-13 off.

Dixon also took a one-year sabbatical from the profession in the middle of his career.

“It was time to maybe just step away for a year and see if basketball coaching is what I want to do for the rest of my life,” Gauthreaux said. “Don’t get me wrong – coaching is something that I love, but I just needed to reevaluate some things. … This is just a good time to step away for a year and see if basketball coaching is what I really want to do.”

Gauthreaux said he would be attending multiple games throughout the area when the season starts.

He added that he would even be willing to provide scouting reports for his coaching friends throughout the area, if needed.

He insists that his resignation may not be the end of his career.

He stopped short of using the other, more permanent “r-word”.

“I’m not ready to say I’m retiring,” Gauthreaux said. “I’m just looking forward to enjoying it from the outside for a change. I’ll still be in the gym and if anyone wants me to scout, I’ll be happy to go scout. It’ll just be nice to enjoy the game in a stress-free setting for once.

“I met a lot of wonderful kids and made a lot of wonderful friends in my time at Ellender and I really enjoyed all of my years. I’m grateful to all of the schools who have given me opportunities through the years. I’ve definitely had nothing short of a blessed career. I’m not saying it’s over, because who knows what options will pop up? But it’s time to step back.”

Ellender will not need a coaching search to find Gauthreaux’s replacement.

The Patriots have already announced that Gauthreaux’s lead assistant coach, Cornell Scott, will take over Ellender’s program.

Scott has been on Gauthreaux’s staff since the 2007 season.

The outgoing coach said that his successor would do a fine job leading the Patriots into the future.

In Scott’s first season with the team, Ellender will need to replace All-State players Gibby Talbot and Houston Chatman, who both advanced to the collegiate level.

“I think he’ll do really well. He has more experience than I had when I first became a head coach because I came right out of college,” Gauthreaux said. “We’ve talked already and he told me our philosophies for running a program are very similar. It should be a smooth transition since he’s already here and is already familiar with the program. … I think he’s going to do a nice job.

“I certainly wish him the best. Ellender’s been good to me. I want to see them succeed.”