<table bgcolor=#eaeaea> <td> <font color=#000000> <blockquote> <p align=justify>
Lance Veazey, UL's track and field coach the past five seasons, tendered his resignation earlier this week and will be accepting an athletic director position at a private secondary school in Houston.
Veazey's resignation is effective June 30, ending a tenure during which the Ragin' Cajuns won one Sun Belt Conference cross country title and was league runner-up once both indoors and outdoors. However, the UL program has struggled in recent years, finishing at the bottom in the Sun Belt outdoor championships in each of the past two seasons.
"It's been difficult at times," Veazey said. "It seemed like there was one thing after another with everything that's happened. We went through two seasons when the track was under construction and then the problems with the hurricanes. It's been very challenging times to say the least."
<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070621/SPORTS/706210347/1006" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com
<!--
The university has not officially announced Veazey's resignation, but UL interim athletic director David Walker said that the department will likely act quickly to fill the position since less than two months remain before the beginning of the fall semester.
Veazey will become athletic director at Emory Weiner Upper School, a private grades 6-12 school in Houston, effective Aug. 1. "It's a new challenge," Veazey said, "with coaches to hire and people to put in place before August."
Veazey's tenure as UL's head coach began under tragedy, when long-time Cajun mentor Charles Lancon died of a heart attack on April 13, 2002. Veazey had served as an assistant under Lancon for five seasons in his second stint on the Cajun staff, having served as a student assistant until his graduation in 1992.
The program was hit by more tragedy in Veazey's early years with the untimely deaths of athletes John Melvin and Ben Rodgers.
"All of that, and coming after coach Lancon, it was very difficult," Veazey said. "We had some success, but I do think that this will let some new life breathe into the program, allow them to go another direction and give them the opportunity to be successful."
Veazey helped UL dominate both the American South and Sun Belt Conferences in track as an assistant. UL's men and women both won indoor and outdoor titles in the final year of his first stint in 1993, and after coaching at Blinn College, Texas, and Southeastern La. he returned in 1997 and helped UL win its eighth straight conference outdoor title in 1998.
UL won the 2004 Sun Belt cross country title after finishing second in both the league men's indoor and outdoor meets that spring. The Cajuns, though, were last of 10 teams outdoors in both men's and women's competition in 2006 and recently finished ninth of 10 men's teams and 11th of 11 women's teams in the 2007 Sun Belt outdoor meet at Cajun Track.
"It was strictly my decision," Veazey said. "Mr. Walker and all the administrators have been very supportive, and Mr. Walker and I sat and talked about what's the best plan for the program. He's asked for a lot of my input on where we should go and I totally respect that."
Among possible candidates for the job are former UL and LSU assistant Boo Schexnayder, now in private business; former Blinn College and current Texas Tech assistant Steve Silvey, holder of 15 national titles while at Blinn; and New Iberia product and former Cajun pole vaulter Lon Badeaux, currently an assistant at Arkansas State.
-->
</td> </table>