Tim Sensley

McNeese hires ex-Cajun Sensley
<blockquote><p align=justify>LAKE CHARLES — It was one year ago this week that the football bug sank its teeth into Tim Sensley again.

The former standout cornerback at then-USL was working with the McNeese State football camp, just for something to do in the summer.

“I told the coaches then if something were to open up, to keep me in mind,’’ Sensley said.

In the next couple of weeks, he begins his new job coaching the Cowboy cornerbacks.

“I can’t wait,’’ he said. “I’ve been looking forward to it ever since we started talking about it. Expectations are high, but I like a challenge.’’

Sensley, who wrapped up an award-winning career with the Ragin’ Cajuns in 1995, played two years in NFL defensive backfields with the New York Giants and the Carolina Panthers. Since that time, though, he’s confined himself to teaching, mostly on the middle school level, with some coaching and high school football officiating to keep his hand in the game.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com <!--l

“I wanted to stay in touch with it,’’ he said, and that paid off when McNeese head coach Tommy Tate and defensive coordiantor Lance Guidry approached him earlier this year about the restricted-earnings position.

Guidry, a former college safety, is in charge of the MSU secondary, but Sensley will be in charge of the cornerbacks this year for a squad that is coming off a 13-2 season and a Division I-AA national title game outing.

It’s a long way from eighth-grade math at Oak Park Middle.

“A couple of high schools wanted me the last couple of years,’’ he said. “But I would have had to work spring sports too, and that would have been tough with Carol’s schedule.’’

Carol, of course, is wife Carol Sensley, McNeese’s third-year head women’s basketball coach.

“We’re very supportive of each other,’’ Tim said. “It’ll be interesting. Our schedules are going to be crazy, we’ll be like two ships passing in the night a lot of times.’’

“You make it work,’’ said Carol, who was an assistant at MSU for seven years and at Ole Miss for two. “The season’s don’t really overlap a lot, and we jsut have to make the most of it when we get the opportunity.’’

That includes representing their sports at a MSU-hosted function Wednesday during the Louisiana Sports Writers Association convention currently in progress. The dinner at the Cowboy Club overlooked Cowboy Stadium, where Sensley will be pacing the sidelines in less than two months.

Until then, he’s banking on his Cajun experiences as one of the school’s top cornerbacks in under the tutelage of then-secondary coach Mike Doherty.

“I learned so much from Coach Doherty,’’ Sensley said. “He’s so player-oriented. My coaching style is going to be a replica of him as much as possible ... we’re going to do a lot of things that he did.

“A lot of the defense here is similar to what we used to run, and one of the things the staff here is excited about is that I’m still young enough and in good enough shape not only to teach the guys, but to show them techniques. I’ve got a few more years left in me to do that.’’

One thing is for sure. With football approaching, his golf game will suffer and his links outings with fellow Cajun alumni and Cowboy staff member Gerald Broussard will become less frequent.

“We played today,’’ he said. “It’s so ironic how much I looked up to him when I played there and now we’re friends and coaching together. He’s been knowing me for 13 years, and I’m sure that Coach Tate and Coach Guidry went in and talked to him about me.

“That’s why you always treat people right. You never know who you may need somewhere along the way.’’
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WOW. What a great opportunity!! Best of luck to him and the Cowboys this season!!! :cool: