Pelicans relish opportunity to be in the hunt
April 15, 2015
UPDATE: School board asks for cheerleading rules to be reviewed
April 15, 2015
The H.L. Bourgeois football team has its new coach.
He comes to Gray after serving as a top assistant for one of the most prestigious prep teams in the Houma-Thibodaux area.
The Braves announced this past week that they’ve hired Thibodaux High defensive coordinator Carey Melvin to lead the school’s football program into the future as its new head coach.
Melvin, 37, has 16 years of experience in the profession, combined in the prep and collegiate levels.
A Powder Spring, Georgia native, Melvin will replace Daron Franklin, who resigned earlier this spring so he could spend more time with his family in the New Orleans area.
Melvin said he’s excited to take over a program with a bright future. This will be the first-ever head-coaching gig for the coach, who has rich local ties on his resume. Melvin has served two separate stints as an assistant at Thibodaux High, helping to coach the Tigers’ defense into one of the most fearsome bunches in Class 5A – a unit that allowed only 15.7 points per game on average in 2014. The new Braves’ headman was also a coach at Nicholls in the early 2000s.
“It feels fantastic. I’m extremely excited for this opportunity,” Melvin said. “It’s my first head coaching job, but I’ve been coaching a very long time, so I’m excited to take on this challenge. I’ve always had the goal of becoming a head coach and this is something that I’ve really wanted to do. H.L. Bourgeois is a program on the rise and this is a job that I really wanted. I’m ready to get started. I’m ready to start building.”
Melvin said his mission is simple: instill toughness in the Braves’ program – a process he believes will be similar to the one that was in place under Franklin.
Melvin was very complimentary toward his predecessor, touting that he saw marked improvements in H.L. Bourgeois during the former coach’s tenure with the team.
He said the strides the team made in the past two seasons will make the coaching job much easier going forward as he tries to turn the Braves into a contender.
Melvin said because Thibodaux shares a district with H.L. Bourgeois, he’s been able to watch the Braves on film quite often the past few seasons.
The new coach said he thinks the Braves have a talented roster glittered with athletes – young men that now have the confidence that they can beat anyone.
The Braves finished 2-8 last season, defeating Ellender and cross-town rival Terrebonne. They were much more competitive in 2014 than in 2013 when they finished 0-10.
“The difference in that team from Coach Franklin’s first year to his second year was a complete, total 180,” Melvin said. “I think he did a very nice job. You could see that he instilled in those kids that they ought to believe in themselves. That was obvious from how hard they played. That showed on film and it showed in the game that we played against them. … They have talented football players coming back – kids that are similar to those that we had at Thibodaux.”
Defense is Melvin’s specialty, and he said the Braves will run a multiple 4-3 alignment.
That’s the same defensive scheme and package that Melvin used as the defensive coordinator for Thibodaux, helping lead the Tigers to the Class 5A State Playoffs in each of the past two seasons.
Tigers head coach Chris Dugas had glowing words for Melvin after Thibodaux’s shutout win over South Lafourche this past season.
“He does such a great job with those kids,” Dugas said. “We’re always well prepared and we always are in position to make plays. We were a little worried about our defense coming into the year, but our coaches have done an outstanding job of getting that group ready and we’ve done a great job.”
