Coaches Keep Audience Laughing
BOBBY ARDOIN
St. Landry Now.com Editor
It was perhaps the final time for St. Landry Parish public high school coaches to lighten their burden before the start of the 2025 season and after perhaps washing down their troubles with a few favorite beverages, they artfully accomplished that task with a repertoire of hilarious anecdotes
The valued preseason crying towel was up for grabs Tuesday night and Port Barre High head coach Brent Angelle easily demolished the competition for a second straight year, highlighting the atmosphere at the annual parish jamboree coaches supper inside the Opelousas Civic Center.
Angelle was not without challengers however as Eunice High head coach Andre Vige, Dwight Collins of North Central, Harry Coleman of Opelousas High, Buck Harris at Beau Chene and Northwest High head coach Chris Edwards provided their share of perceived woeful tales about the conditions of their programs.
The highlight of a one-victory 2024 season, Angelle said, might have been capturing the coveted towel at the same venue last August.
“It was all downhill from there. From the jamboree on, we had a multitude of injuries, emergency surgeries, concussions, discipline situations and that’s just with the coaching staff,” Angelle said, as the large crowd roared.
By Week 3, the Red Devils were starting a third string quarterback and then Angelle described his attempts to deflect his team’s problems by providing traditional coaches’ euphemisms.
“You hear coaches say, they have great kids. What it really means is we don’t have athletes. We show up for every game. That means we’re small. Do we play with heart? Well, we’re not strong. Coaches say our teams grind it out. That says we’re slow. One win, our team has some fight. When you get two wins, you’re on top of the world,” Angelle added.
Vige did his part, reflecting on a pain embedded during a two-win season in 2024.
“We have bigger expectations this season. This year, we’re saying, three wins and we’re happy. Four wins and it’s time to party. Five wins and we get fireworks and a parade,” said Vige.
Beau Chene, in a second season under head coach Buck Harris, was winless in 2024.
“We started from scratch, but now I think our kids are buying in. We were taking a program that had 23 players and that was a task to say the least. If we can finish the season with the guys we have at the beginning, we will be better,” Harris said.
Coleman recalled the situation when he took over the OHS program earlier this year.
“I show up there and there’s no football. The grass wasn’t cut. There weren’t any bags. I had to ask myself, ‘what have I gotten into?’” said Coleman, who coached at Peabody the last two years.
Collins provided his share of comedy relief.
He removed his cap and revealed a scalp that Collins said lost considerable hair during last year, due to concern about the progress of his team.
“There were times last year that I thought about driving over a cliff. Coach Vige talked about fireworks and a parade. I’d just like to have a firecracker,” said Collins.
Over at Northwest High, Edwards complained that he has linemen that now dwarf the sizes of previous years
