The Summer of 08 and The Search for a New track coach

[CajunDawgPound]

_ What is the Olympic coaches name and is there a tie with UL? What are the other possible track coach names out there to be talked about?


DaddyCajun _

His first name is Irving ajnd he be a stud hoss.

[shof]

_ Good question! Ask Scott Farmer,haven't spoken to him since softball returned home. _

OK, next time I run into him at the store!

[spearchucker]

And you are a confidant of his and have the inside?

YOu post like you have a straight line to him. Schucks, in my sleep last night he told me he was close. Five will get ya ten that there's a MUCH better chance of him coming here than you think.

1. BTW, he will go to Lafayette for the same money as the just departed clown. The Cajuns are in the ballpark.

Never know...things change through time is all I can say.

BTW Silvey was not a clown...he was a champion producer.

[cajun4life]

_ Never know...things change through time is all I can say.

BTW Silvey was not a clown...he was a champion producer. _

I agree with Silvey being a tremendous coach and produced amaizing results and he would have done the same thing here as well had he stayed. That being said, if they give Coach Boo the same things they gave Silvey I am pretty sure he will be the next coach.

[DaddyCajun]

Not announced yet but your new track coach will be:

Charlie Mahfouz
Assistant Coach -AC

Experience: 1st Year

Charlie Mahfouz enters his first season as a volunteer assistant coach for Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns men's and women's track and field programs.

Prior to UL, Mahfouz spent 18 years coaching at the high school level. During his high school coaching career, Mahfouz won six Louisiana state championships. He began his career as the head track coach at Eunice High School from 1984-92. He led the Bobcats to five St. Landry Parish and district championships, while capturing three regional and Class 3A state titles in 1990, 1991 and 1992.

After spending nine years in Eunice, Mahfouz headed east to Opelousas High where he guided the Tigers to a St. Landry Parish championship in each of his nine seasons. His squads also captured six district and five regional crowns.

In his inaugural season at OHS, his Tigers squad finished as the Class 4A runner-up in 1993. His program would later capture three straight state championships from 1998-2000.

Mahfouz coached Ubeja Anderson, a high school All-American in the 110-meter hurdles. He is the state composite record holder with a time of 13.75 in the 110-meter discipline. He later became the national indoor champion in the 55-meter hurdles.

In addition to Anderson, Mahfouz also coached Tommy Fay, Jacques Prudhomme and Devery Henderson. Fay, a four-year letterwinner at UL from 1993-96, won the 110-meter hurdle state championship during his prep career at Eunice High.

Like Fay, Prudhomme, the 800-meter state champion at Eunice, was a four-year letterwinner at UL from 1993-96.

Henderson, a former standout athlete at Opelousas High, was the Louisiana state championship in both the 100- and 200-meter events from 1998-2000. Henderson later lettered in track and football at Louisiana State and is currently a wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints.

This is just my guess....................hhhhhhmmmmmmm or did a little birdy tell me so?

[cajun4life]

_ Not announced yet but your new track coach will be:

Charlie Mahfouz
Assistant Coach - AC

Experience: 1st Year

This is just my guess....................hhhhhhmmmmmmm or did a little birdy tell me so? _

I like Mahfouz, but we will not win with him as coach. UL athletics are pathetic, you get what you pay for, and we shop at the dollar general.

[spearchucker]

wow

[cajun4life]

_ wow _

This is an embarassment!

That is not a shot at Coach Mahfouz on a personal level but a shot at the athletic department. What great vision and leadership we have at UL!!

[CajunCharlie]

_ I like Mahfouz, but we will not win with him as coach. UL athletics are pathetic, you get what you pay for, and we shop at the dollar general. _

Jeez, Mahfouz is fortunate that you don't hate him!
Any specific reason(s) that you know of for him not being able to win as the track coach? No generalities, please. Be specific!!

[cajun4life]

Jeez, Mahfouz is fortunate that you don't hate him!
Any specific reason(s) that you know of for him not being able to win as the track coach? No generalities, please. Be specific!!

The face of the Sunbelt conference has shifted more towards the east since the Sunbelts inception. Charlie Lancon also could no longer win in the Sunbelt his last few years as the Cajuns head coach. Louisiana just does not provide enough athletes for us to be truly competitive in the Sunbelt. With the departure of Dick Booth and Coach Boo the track program began to decline. They had very strong contacts with coaches in foreign countries such as Jamaica and other islands that we had very good success at getting top tier athletes. We were nationally competitive during this time. Once Booth and Boo left Lancon recruited locally and did fairly well but did not win. Lance was a good track coach but he was not a good team manager or a guy who could go out and raise a lot of money to fund the program. We immediately fell to the back of the pack of the Sunbelt. UL then goes out and hires Steve Silvey, the greatest hire in the history of the track program. It showed a tremendous commitment towards the success of the track program. What the athletic department failed to take into account is his ego. He was a very hard person to work with and he demanded more support than they were willing to give. Silvey had a recruiting class that would have had the Cajuns in the top 3 in the conference as true freshman. More than likely he would have moved on after 3 or 4 years for more money, and higher profile school. We lost nearly all of the recruits that Silvey had committed to the program after he resigned. This brings me to where we are currently, UL went out and hired Mahfouz, while he does have a fair amount knowledge about track, the question is will he be able to recruit outside of Acadiana? I don't think he will do very well in the southeast Texas areas or in New Orleans. Acadiana does not have enough talent in the high school ranks to compete in the Sunbelt. Bottom line is we hired a high school coach to coach a major college sport. He does not have the resume supporting the hire much less the resume to even apply at the collegiate level. He is unproven as a recruiter and as a college coach. IMO there were plenty of candidates out there that UL could have and should have went after but did not. It is the same old ____ as always. A second rate effort for a second rate athletic program.

[cajun4life]

Jeez, Mahfouz is fortunate that you don't hate him!
Any specific reason(s) that you know of for him not being able to win as the track coach? No generalities, please. Be specific!!

Was that specific enough?

[spearchucker]

The face of the Sunbelt conference has shifted more towards the east since the Sunbelts inception. Charlie Lancon also could no longer win in the Sunbelt his last few years as the Cajuns head coach. .

In college, a coach is only as good as his assistants are....thus....Tommy Badon and Boo Schexnayder...end of story. Coach was Lanc was like a surrogate father to me; I could write a book about him...but Boo Schexnayder was the reason I came to UL years ago, just like other throwers, jumpers, and decs did and just the same...the sprinters came to UL for Badon.