Mark Hudspeth for HC

Hedley Lamarr

Hedley Lamarr

New member
A 22-year coaching veteran, Hudspeth carries a 93-33 career record in 10 seasons as a collegiate head coach, winning 10 or more games five times and having winning records in nine straight campaigns.

Hudspeth, 45, came to Lafayette after serving as the passing game coordinator at Mississippi State for two seasons (2009-10), helping the Bulldogs end eight years of football frustrations by making a Gator Bowl appearance in his final season.

After three years as an assistant coach at Delta State (1999-2000) and Navy (2001), Hudspeth took over as head coach at North Alabama and the winning quickly commenced. He guided the Lions to a 66-21 record in seven seasons (2002-08), winning two Gulf South Conference titles and making five appearances in the NCAA Division II Championship, advancing to the semi-finals three times (2003, 2005, 2008).

Inheriting a program that had three consecutive losing records, Hudspeth turned things around quickly, helping UNA to a 13-1 record in just his second season (2003). UNA claimed the league title with a perfect 9-0 mark and advanced to the NCAA Championship for the first time in seven years, defeating Southern Arkansas and Carson-Newman before falling at North Dakota in the national semi-finals.

For his effort, Hudspeth was named the Gulf South Coach of the Year while also being voted the NCAA Division II Region 2 Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association.

The winning didnt stop there as the Lions went 11-3 and advanced to the NCAA semis in 2005, the first of four straight 10-win campaigns.

UNA went 11-1 in 2006, including 8-0 in league play to claim its second Gulf South title, with Hudspeth earning his second coach of the year award while also being selected as the NCAA Division II Region 2 Coach of the Year again. The Lions followed that up with a 10-2 record and an appearance in the NCAA Division II quarterfinals in 2007.

Hudspeth capped off his tenure at North Alabama by guiding the Lions to a 12-2 record in 2008 and making their fourth straight NCAA appearance, falling in the semifinals.

http://www.ragincajuns.com/coaches.aspx?rc=159

 
Hudspeths OC Jay Johnson

Before coming to Louisiana, Johnson spent one season at Central Michigan (2010) and was at Louisville from 2008-09.

Johnson was at Southern Miss for five years (2003-07), working with the tight ends (2003), running backs (2004) and three as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach (2005-07) under head coach Jeff Bower.

While at USM, the Golden Eagles established a school record for total offense in 2007 with 5,066, eclipsing the 5,000-yard plateau for the first time in school history.

Johnson has honed his coaching skills at a variety of levels and schools. He started his coaching career at Columbia-Hickman High School in 1993, serving as the quarterbacks, receivers and defensive backs coach.

In 1994, he moved to Missouri as a graduate assistant coach, later moving to Augsburg College, serving as the schools offensive coordinator and recruitment coordinator from 1994-95, before moving to that same position at Truman State from 1995-97.

He served as a graduate assistant at Kansas from 1997-99 and became its quarterbacks coach in 1999, serving in that role until 2001.

Johnson, a three-time All-Gateway Conference quarterback and four-time conference player of the week in his playing days at Northern Iowa

 
Hudspeths DC James Willis

Willis, who spent two years as defensive coordinator with the Virginia Destroyers in the United Football League, was the defensive coordinator at Texas Tech in 2010 and spent the 2009 season at Alabama, helping the Crimson Tide to a Rose Bowl victory over Texas.

Willis year-long stop in Tuscaloosa was a fruitful one as the Tide won the national championship in a 14-0 season. Serving as associate head coach to Nick Saban, Willis coached the linebackers and helped lead a defense that ranked second nationally in total defense. All-American linebacker Rolando McClain played under Willis direction and claimed the prestigious Butkus Award at seasons end.

Willis spent the 2006-08 seasons as the linebackers coach at Auburn under Tommy Tuberville. The Tigers ranked No. 7 nationally in scoring defense in 2006 and followed with a No. 6 ranking in 2007 and a No. 14 ranking in scoring defense in 2008. Auburn appeared in two bowls during his tenure - the 2007 AT&T Cotton Bowl and the 2007 Chick-fil-A Bowl. The Tigers defeated Nebraska 17-14 in the Cotton Bowl and defeated Clemson 23-20 in overtime in the Chick-fil-A. Willis also coached a pair of Freshman All-Americans at linebacker at Auburn in Tray Blackmon (2006) and Spencer Pybus (2008).

Prior to his stint at Auburn, Willis coached the linebackers at Temple (2005) and Rhode Island (2004-05). He coached Rhode Island linebacker Teddy Gibbons to team MVP and All-Atlantic 10 Conference honors in 2004. In 2003, Willis was a defensive graduate assistant at Auburn after working as a student assistant the previous two years at AU.

Willis spent seven seasons in the NFL and one season in the XFL. He began his professional career with the Green Bay Packers (1993-94) before making the move to Philadelphia (1995-98), where he was a three-year starter for the Eagles. His final NFL season was in 1999 with the Seattle Seahawks and his playing career concluded in 2001 with the Birmingham Thunderbolts of the XFL where he was the leagues defensive most valuable player

 
More importantly, Coach gets after it:



...and Coach's wife REALLY gets after it:

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Hudspeth Asst HC, Recruiting Coord. TE Reed Stringer

The 2014 Ragin Cajuns recruiting class was ranked as the best in the Sun Belt Conference for the third consecutive year by Scout.com. Stringer, the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Recruiter of the Year by Scout.com, was once again honored in 2013 by the same publication as one of the top two recruiters in the Sun Belt Conference.

Being recognized for his recruiting efforts is nothing new to Stringer, a native of Canton, Miss. In 2009, he was named one of the SECs Top 10 Recruiters by Rivals.com for his contributions to Mississippi States nationally-ranked class which produced 12 players who signed NFL contracts and also included Cincinnati Reds centerfielder Billy Hamilton.

As tight ends coach, Stringer has helped produce some of the top talent for the Ragin Cajuns highlighted by Ladarius Green, who was a three-time All-Sun Belt Conference performer and currently plays for the NFLs San Diego Chargers. In 2013, senior Jacob Maxwell earned All-Sun Belt Conference honors and along with Ian Thompson, the duo each signed deals with NFL clubs with Maxwell inking with the Detroit Lions and Thompson with the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Stringers efforts in overseeing the Ragin Cajun football academic accountability program have also been a plus for the program. With the help of football academics, the Louisiana Ragin Cajun student-athletes graduate at a higher rate among student-athletes in schools both in the state of Louisiana and the Sun Belt Conference, according to 2013 Federal Graduation Rates statistics, which were released by the NCAA. On top of graduating its players, for the spring 2014 semester the Ragin Cajun football student-athletes posted its highest semester GPA ever recorded since the school began accumulating this data.

Before spending the 2010 season on Dabo Swinneys staff at Clemson, Stringer spent seven seasons at Mississippi State in a variety of roles, beginning in 2003 as a graduate assistant working with the offensive line. He was promoted to tight ends coach on Sylvester Crooms staff in 2005 and added special teams duties to his resume in 2007. He was also the Director of Recruiting for Dan Mullens 2009 staff.

A four-year letterman on the Statesmens offensive line, he helped DSU claim the 2000 NCAA Division II national championship.

 
Defensive Line

Tim Edwards

Prior to Louisiana, he spent the previous three seasons as co-defensive coordinator, recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach at FAMU.

Before Florida A&M, Edwards served a five-year tenure at Hampton (2003-07), helping Hampton capture back-to-back Black College National Championships in (2004 and 2005) and make three consecutive in the Division I FCS Playoffs.

Edwards began his career in 1996 as a graduate assistant at Delta State before serving as linebackers and defensive line coach at Kentucky State from 1998-2001.

He added stops with the Carolina Rhinos of the Arena Football League 2 and at Pearl River Community College.

 
It's an impressive resume and don't take this the wrong way but he never actually got over the hump and won a championship. How are we sure he wouldn't be another Bo that peaks at rebuilding but not championships?

 
He's done well as his track record shows. I like him but do not know enough. I think he would be a nice candidate, as would Frost, and hopefully 4 more out there. But just hope the others have a little more to offer. The big picture is to have a half dozen prospects.

Seems like the past failures were quick triggers. If I have it kind of right, Solich was handpicked quickly. Callahan was miserably fired by Raiders and then quickly hired by Pederson. Were there any serious candidate besides ol' BC? That hire was so insane. And then Pelini's competition was Gill and possibly someone else. What the heck is going on with these HC searches?

 
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