The Work Begins: Rebowe officially takes over job at Nicholls

Annie St. Pierre
January 12, 2015
Baseball Hall of Fame is a joke
January 13, 2015
Annie St. Pierre
January 12, 2015
Baseball Hall of Fame is a joke
January 13, 2015

Tim Rebowe said he sat at his office desk on Monday morning, took a deep breath and looked around at the walls surrounding him.


His chair was comfy, and the office around him was clean and relatively bare, but it all felt like home.

He said he then took out his to-do list and started plodding away at all of the things he needed to do on that day. The list was steep, but he dove in head-first and got started by making a few calls.

About an hour later as he was knee-deep into his work, the realization finally sunk in – he was officially the head football coach at Nicholls State University.


Rebowe started his duties in Thibodaux on Monday morning and has been working at a feverish pace to get ready for National Signing Day on Feb. 4.

The coach spent a few minutes with The Times this week and said the entire experience has been amazing, though a bit of a blur.

“It’s been an incredibly fast pace, but it’s been going really, really good, man,” Rebowe said on Wednesday afternoon. “We hit the ground running on Monday morning, and we’re trying to hire coaches and get all of that situated so that we can get on the road and get to recruiting.”


FEVERISH RECRUITER EYES TALENT OVERHAUL

Recruiting has probably been No. 1 on Rebowe’s to-do list of things to get accomplished in the coming weeks.

The coach said he and his assistant coaches have worked hard in the past few days to scope out unsigned talent in the area, while also working to build relationships with the high school coaches in the area.


Rebowe said the process has gone smoothly and that the Colonels have secured commitments from players in the past few weeks – young men who are expected to ink with Nicholls on National Signing Day.

Rebowe couldn’t comment on anyone by name per NCAA rules, but he identified offensive and defensive linemen as big-time positions of need within the team.

“That’s all been good,” Rebowe said of his team’s recruiting effort. “Out on the road, the reception has been good from our area’s high school coaches. Everywhere we go, the coaches say that they have players and they say that they are trying to send them our way. That’s something that we’re very excited about. It’s been a good first week, and over the holidays, we got a few good commitments, so we’re happy about that.


“Our goal is simply to get the best players available. We have spots that we know that we need. We know that we need offensive and defensive linemen, and that’s our biggest needs, but honestly, we just want the best players available.”

Of course, recruiting is one of the biggest reasons why Rebowe was offered the Nicholls job in the first place.

Throughout the hiring process, Colonels AD Rob Bernardi said that Nicholls needed someone who could furiously scan the area and bring top-flight talent to Thibodaux.


At all of his stops, Rebowe has been proven capable to do just that.

As an assistant at UL-Lafayette, Ragin’ Cajuns’ head coach Mark Hudspeth called Rebowe the best recruiter in Louisiana.

The new Nicholls coach laughed when told of that compliment, joking that one shouldn’t always believe what they hear.


But in a more serious tone, he said that his philosophy is to always be honest with recruits and understand that they need to make the best decisions for both they and their families.

“I think what makes a great recruiter is trust,” Rebowe said. “If you just go in there and be yourself, I think you’ll be OK. People in this area are smart. They’ll sniff you out and know if you’re being fake. I think being yourself is a big key. I think you have to just lay out the information for them and understand that even if you’re the absolute best at it, you’re still going to lose some players to other schools.”

STAFF TAKING SHAPE


Away from the recruiting trail, Rebowe spent a ton of his holiday break hiring his coaching staff.

“We wanted to hire the best coaches that we could to help us get this program turned around,” Rebowe said. “We worked very hard to reach out to people who have a depth of relationships around this state so that we can bring a wide knowledge base but will also be able to successfully recruit many areas of the state.”

On the offensive side of the ball, former Missouri State offensive coordinator Rob Christophel will now hold the same position at Nicholls.


Rebowe and Christophel worked together in the 2000s when the two were together at UL-Lafayette.

Last year at Missouri State, Christophel’s offense scored 22.9 points per game and accumulated 346.8 yards per game.

Also on the offensive staff will be Sean Murphy (wide receivers coach), Lee Roussel (offensive line coach) and Matt Clark (title not yet named).


On the defensive side of the ball, Tommy Rybacki has been hired to be the team’s defensive coordinator.

Like Christophel, Rybacki worked with Rebowe at UL-Lafayette from 2011-13 when Rybacki served as the team’s outside linebackers coach and later secondary coach.

Last season, Rybacki coached cornerbacks for the University of Central Arkansas. Under his watch, the Bears recorded 16 interceptions.


Also coming to Thibodaux on the defensive side of the ball are Anthony Camp (defensive line), Marcus Scott (secondary coach) and Brian Wallace (linebackers coach).

Camp, Scott and Roussel join Rebowe after spending the 2014 season at the high school ranks.

Rebowe said once signing day passes, the new staff will begin player evaluation and basic planning for the 2015 season.


But the coach said he doesn’t intend to watch much film from 2014 and will instead take the approach that everyone on the roster will have a clean slate – a new chance to make a first impression with the program.

“I don’t want to know too much,” Rebowe said. “I want to give everyone a chance to compete and work to earn their spot. I know some things. I know, obviously that (Michael) Henry is a really good back that’s coming back. I know the things (Tuskani) Figaro can do at quarterback because I coached against him at UL-Lafayette. We’ll watch the tape some, but we don’t want to use it too much to evaluate, because we want to see how the players respond and react to the things we’re doing and how we’re coaching. We want it to be a fresh start.”

But even with that patient approach, Rebowe said he knows for sure that work needs to be done to change the win/loss record for the Colonels.


But he said in the first year of his tenure, he’s not worried about wins, but more about returning the program to respectability.

“We want to re-earn people’s respect,” Rebowe said. “When you talk about expectations, I never want to get caught up in throwing a number of wins out there or anything like that. We want to be a team that competes, plays hard, is disciplined and has the respect of the opponent that we’re facing – both before and after the game.”

HAPPY TO BE HOME


More important than it all, Rebowe said he’s happy to be home. The new Nicholls coach said he’s been received very well since being back in Thibodaux – the place he served as an assistant coach from 1995-99.

Rebowe’s son Tyler is an infielder for the Colonels’ baseball team, and the coach posted recently on his Twitter page that he and Tyler were enjoying a Nicholls basketball game together.

Supporting the other sports within the school is something Rebowe said is a must to build morale and support.


And for the coach, that’s easy to do, because he said he’s a sports junkie.

“You asked me what do I do when I’m away from coaching? I’d say – I take pride in just being a fan,” Rebowe said. “I love sports – all sports. I love going to football games, baseball games and just everything else. Do I study a little bit of what other coaches are doing in certain situations? Maybe so. But mostly, I just love being a fan. I love that setting of the competition and the crowd and everything. When I’m not coaching, I don’t stray too far away from sports.”

The coach said he also likes to stay fit – touting that he tries to run every day when time allows.


“But at my age, maybe you should call it more of a jog,” he said with a laugh.

His explanation for why he exercises is simple, and it’s one that makes a ton of sense to anyone that lives in South Louisiana.

“I jog so that I can eat,” Rebowe said again with a laugh. “I don’t want to miss out on the seafood and everything else that we have here in Louisiana.”


The season is approaching fast, and Rebowe knows it’ll all be here sooner than we realize.

But in the first week, he said he definitely took time to smell the roses a bit and enjoy the fact that the Norco boy is finally closer to home.

“Has it fully sunk in yet? Probably not all the way, but it’s been great,” Rebowe said. “I’m enjoying it, and it’s been a great first week. We’re working hard and we’re doing any and everything we can to try and turn this thing around.”


New Nicholls State University head football coach Tim Rebowe (center) smiles with University President Dr. Bruce Murphy (left) and Colonels Athletic Director Rob Bernardi at Rebowe’s initial hiring in November. After finishing the season with UL-Lafayette, Rebowe officially started his duties in Thibodaux on Monday. He said that his first week went well and that he’s excited about the team’s future. 

 

MISTY LEIGH McELROY | NICHOLLS