Why Can’t Athletes Act Right?
October 21, 2014
QBs beat up as playoffs near: Four of 11 local starting QBs didn’t start on Friday night
October 21, 2014
Most folks in the Houma-Thibodaux area remember Brandon Rizzuto as the hard-working Nicholls State University Director of Media Relations – a post that he held for four years from 2006-2010.
“I was a 21-year-old kid, and they hired me right out of college,” Rizzuto remembered. “I’m always going to be grateful for that place. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I learned so much there.”
From his earliest roots in the bayou area, Rizzuto has blossomed. He’s now the general manager of a professional football franchise.
The New Orleans Voodoo announced this week that they’ve made a number of front office personnel changes in advance of the 2015 season next spring.
Rizzuto, 30, was named the team’s new GM in the shakeup, which also included hiring veteran AFL mind Dean Cokinos to be the team’s fifth-ever head coach.
Rizzuto is also going to be a minority ownership partner within the organization, touting that the opportunity is a “dream come true” for him.
“It’s a great opportunity for me and my family,” Rizzuto said. “I’m so very excited about the prospects that lie ahead. I know that there’s a lot of work to be done. But for me, that’s the fun part – getting down and working. I’ve been afforded a lot of great opportunities in my career where I’ve been in hard-working, positive environments. And those places are slim, but Nicholls was one of those places. UNO was another. For me, I’m anxious to get going, and I’m grateful to have the chance to get this thing rolling.”
With the Voodoo, Rizzuto will be a man of many hats.
He said that in the arena football league, the term “general manager” is different than in the NFL, where that position is held by a person with the sole responsibility of coaching moves, controlling personnel and making draft picks or trades.
Rizzuto said that in the arena league, things are different. He said he will have about “20 percent” of the say in the team’s roster with the rest of that power going to Cokinos – a longtime AFL coach who has had tons of success throughout his storied career, posting a 159-87 career record.
With only a small hand in personnel, Rizzuto said a lot of his responsibilities will come in overseeing the entire organization and making sure that everything is the best that it can be within the Voodoo’s organization.
“I’m going to manage the front office mostly, and I’m going to manage the business-side of the organization,” Rizzuto said. “I’m going to be involved from top-to-bottom. We’re talking about things like corporate partnerships, ticket sales, community partnerships, community service and all of the day-in, day-out things that go into making a professional sports team go. For me, it’s a thrill.
“My whole life, I’ve been a critic. Now, I’m going to get the chance to be an artist. It’s easy to be a critic. It’s hard to be an artist. So let’s see how this all shakes out when I’m the artist.”
The biggest challenge on Rizzuto’s plate early in his run as the Voodoo GM will be restoring the team’s competitiveness within the AFL.
New Orleans finished a league-worst 3-15 last season, finishing last in the American Conference’s South Division.
The Voodoo have made the playoff six times in their history, which dates back to the 2004 season.
But the team’s last berth came in the 2012 season when New Orleans endured an 0-2 start and reached the Conference Semifinals before falling to the Philadelphia Soul by a 66-53 tally.
Coincidentally enough, Rizzuto was part of the organization during that season. After leaving Nicholls, he worked for the professional franchise from 2011-12, serving as the team’s Vice President.
Rizzuto then left the Voodoo to serve for two years as the Assistant Athletic Director at UNO.
“Our game offers something that other games can’t. It’s very tight, and it’s very intimate,” Rizzuto said. “We’re working toward having a really good product on the field. Coach Cokinos has been around the Arena Football League for quite some time. He’s a winner. He’s won everywhere that he’s ever been. We’re so happy to have him.
“I know Rome wasn’t built in a day. And I know there will be times that I will want it all to happen over night,” Rizzuto added with a laugh. “But with Coach being here and me being out there working on some other things, I think people will understand and see that we’re on the right track to do some great things.”
So for Rizzuto, things are surely looking up.
But no matter how far he may progress in his career, he said that Nicholls is a big source of the credit for his successes.
Rizzuto said the lessons he learned in Thibodaux are some that he will be grateful for throughout the rest of his life.
He thanked former Nicholls football coaches Jay Thomas and Charlie Stubbs, as well as Colonels Athletic Director Rob Bernardi for affording him the opportunity to work with their program as a young, inexperienced 21-year-old kid fresh out of college with big dreams for the future.
“I can’t thank them all enough,” Rizzuto said. “When I was 21-years-old, they gave me a shot. I love Nicholls and I want those people in that area to know that without them, none of this would be happening.”
