Football Changes In St. Landry
BOBBY ARDOIN
St. Landry Now.com Editor
The first 2026 high school football games occupy a distant horizon, but during the past several months, the preseason coaching carousel has been spinning continuously in St. Landry Parish.
Several parish high school teams have had their new staff in place for offseason conditioning while others, like Port Barre have experienced an unusual amount of turmoil.
Perhaps the biggest coaching changes occur in Districts 6-1A and 4-3A.
In addition to several new coaches, some districts have added either new teams or once familiar opponents.
Here’s what has happened already as the 2026 football season begins to unfold.
OPELOUSAS CATHOLIC: Cullen Matherne is no longer the head football coach after three seasons on Prudhomme Lane. The Vikings will be coached this year by Kent Masson, the running backs coach formerly at Teurlings Catholic. Expect Masson to oversee the Vikings’ wrestling program. Matherne is currently a football assistant at E.D. White and he is expected to be the girls’ softball coach.
ST. EDMUND: Gone is James Shiver, who spent four seasons as the Blue Jays’ head coach. The school has opted to hire former Sacred Heart High head coach Jacob Aguillard. Shiver has been hired as the offensive coordinator at Walker High in Livingston Parish.
PORT BARRE: After Brent Angelle left the school at the end of 2025, the school hired Vinnie Bullara as head coach. Bullara spent the winter and spring building his brand at PBHS, but following a spring football game in May with Eunice High, Bullara left the school and has ended up at Kaplan. Mike Robinson, a former defensive line coach at Southside, has been named the new Port Barre head coach.
J.S. CLARK: The Bulldogs enter District 6-1A after two years playing as a junior varsity program. Clark expects to operate this year at a new campus outside Opelousas. Jestin Kelly is the head coach again this season. Clark plays its first LHSAA varsity football game at Iota.
SACRED HEART: The school ventured outside the parish and hired former New Iberia head coach Derek Landry as the new head coach, replacing Aguillard.
CATHOLIC-POINT COUPEE: This 6-1A team that competes against Clark, OCS, Westminster, Sacred Heart and Berchmans Academy has a new head coach. Jacob Carruth, also formerly of North Central, moved from CCHS to Natchitoches to become the new head coach at St. Mary’s. The new CCHS football coach is Matthew Moreau, who was a defensive coordinator last season at Acadiana High.
MAMOU: La’Qunton Lamb, a former Eunice High assistant who spent two years as Mamou head football coach, is no longer with the program. Lamb has been replaced by Daniel Scully, who was the offensive coordinator at Marksville last year.
EUNICE HIGH: The Bobcats move over into more familiar District 4-3A that includes Mamou, Church Point, Northwest, Crowley and Ville Platte. The Bobcats had played in Class 4A for four consecutive seasons.
CROWLEY: Eric Cooley, who coached Crowley for two years has moved across town to become an assistant at Notre Dame. In his place Crowley hired Joel Sinclair, who was a head coach in Mississippi last season.
ST. MARTINVILLE: Although St. Martinville does not compete in any district occupied by a St. Landry team, there is some local interest, since the program is being coached this season by James Dartez, a former Opelousas High assistant who was the head coach at Bolton High in Alexandria and Baker High for several years
PATTERSON: Shannon Craig left Patterson as head coach. He is being replaced by Tremaine Lightfoot, a former Opelousas High assistant coach.
