Football 1998

[Turbine]

2-9

ROSTER

[Cajun1997]

1998 Football Signees
Greyson Augustus, 6-5, 290, OL, Crowley
Daniel Borne, 6-5, 260, DL, St. James (Vacherie)
Ross Brupbacher, 6-2, 200, Lafayette
Keno Davis, 5-8, 160, DB, Carencro
Brian Deamer, 6-2, 180, DB, Amite
Eric Fangman, 6-3, 200, LB, Scottsdale (Ariz.) CC
Brad Franklin, 6-2, 190, DB, Broadmoor (Baton Rouge)
Steven Gil, 6-3, 250, DL, Riverside Academy (Reserve)
Jake Hammer, 6-2, 245, LB, Deer Park (Houston)
Kyries Hebert, 6-3, 190, DB, Eunice
William Hedgewood, 6-4, 190, WR, Hammond
Joe Johnson, 6-4, 280, OL, Northshore (Houston)
Rawle King, 6-7, 270, OL, Northshore (Houston)
Saven Landry, 6-2, 215, LB, Abbeville
Elijah Mallery, 6-1, 180, WR, Clear Lake (Houston)
Trikeith Miller, 6-1, 190, RB, Lee (Baton Rouge)
Pappy Morgan, 6-1, 200, DB, Crowley
Lance Reynolds, 5-11, 200, DB, South Lafourche (Galliano)
Chris Rice, 5-11, 190, DB, East Mississippi JC
Nick Ruhman, 6-5, 285, OL, Nimitz, S.C.
Walter Sampson, 6-4, 215, LB, Crowley
Danny Scott, 6-4, 260, DL, Southwest Mississippi CC
James Stewart, 6-1, 180, WR, Brandon (Tampa)
Justin Venable, 6-1, 225, LB, Acadiana (Lafayette)

Players in bold either left the team before graduation or never played for UL

[NewsCopy]

 LAFAYETTE, Louisiana (Ticker) -- Southwestern Louisiana coach Nelson Stokley resigned today after his 13th season at the school ended with a 38-24 win over Western Kentucky.

Stokley, who has coached more games than any man in USL history, stepped down after the season finale against the Division I-AA school. The 54-year-old coach had a year left on his contract, and the school will honor the final season.

Stokley suffered through a 2-9 season with the Rajin' Cajuns, who were outscored, 453-199. He was 62-80-1 at USL, but saw a streak of three straight winning seasons end in 1996.

"I really feel good about being able to go out as I did," said Stokley. "I know it's time for USL to move on and it's time for Nelson Stokley to move on. I think there's a lot of outstanding coaches out ther and a lot of them aspire to be head coaches and not many of them get the opportunity to be here at USL and be the head football coach. I'm very disappointed in what's happened the last couple of years. There was some very difficult times for this football team and these coaches."

Prior to a 5-6 mark that season, he had a winning record in seven of his first 10 campaigns with the Rajin' Cajuns.

Two of their three wins in the last two seasons came against Arkansas State, and they fell last season to Division II North Alabama and in 1998 to Division I-AA Northwestern State.

Stokley's son, Brandon, quietly enjoyed a stellar career under his father. With 110 yards on eight catches, he became the first player in Division I-A history to average 100 receiving yards per game in a four-year career.

"I cherish the five years that I had with Brandon," the elder Stokley said. "It was just awesome to see him grow up and mature and work to be a great football player. That's been a lot of fun. And those types of things, nobody can take away from you. Those are the things I will cherish for the rest of my life."

However, that was the only bright spot in a tough year. June Stokley, the player's mother and the coach's ex-wife, died suddenly two weeks ago.

Nelson Stokley could be headed back to Clemson, where he was offensive coordinator for six seasons from 1980-85, including the national championship season of 1981. It was announced earlier this week that Clemson's Tommy West would be coaching his last game today against South Carolina.

"I'd like to (coach again) in a good situation," Stokley said. "If I did that, it would be important for me to be in a situation that I feel like there's a lot there. It doesn't have to be as a head coach, I've had that opportunity and I feel good about it. I'd like to be involved with a team that maybe has opportunities to win conference championships, to go to bowls and just get back into it a little more in that situation."

USL athletic director Nelson Shexnayder said the search for a new coach is under way and a leading candidate reportedly is Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers coach David Culley, who was quarterbacks coach at USL from 1985-88,

"We hopefully will have the question about our next football coach answered in the next two or three weeks," Shexnayder said. "We have begun the process of identifying people that we would like to talk to, and we will be talking to them in the next couple of weeks.

"The criteria that we would like to use include expience in college coaching. I think college coaching is much different than high school or the pros. Head coaching experience is important, but not essential. Ties to Louisiana are important and ties to USL are important. There are eight to 10 people we would like to visit with over the next couple of weeks."

Others under consideration are University of Tennessee receivers coach Pat Washington, Notre Dame linebackers coach Kirk Doll, Louisiana State assistant head coach-recruiting coordinator Bill Elias and Georgia assistant head coach Chris Scelfo.

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