Football 2000

[Louisiana]

1-10

ROSTER

[Louisiana]

[NewsCopy]

When the time finally came to name a new head football coach in December 1998, Nelson Schexnayder was forced to make a choice.

There were 10 or 11 candidates for the job, said Schexnayder, the athletic director at Louisiana-Lafayette.

One of them was Jerry Baldwin.

Another was Mike Leach.

Twenty-one months since he made it official, the decision of the boss will face a small measure of scrutiny today in a low-key non-conference faceoff at Jones SBC Stadium. After hiring Baldwin to coach the Ragin' Cajuns, Schexnayder will be a curious bystander when the Cajuns battle a Texas Tech team coached by Leach, another man who interviewed for the job one year before his hiring in Lubbock last December.

''Obviously, Leach's credentials and the work he had done at Kentucky as offensive coordinator made him somebody we were interested in visiting with,'' Schexnayder said. ''As we looked through the candidates we settled on coach Baldwin. It is interesting.''

Leach was given a lengthy interview in Kentucky for the position ultimately taken by Baldwin, a well-respected former assistant coach at Louisiana Tech and Louisiana State. According to Schexnayder, the choice was made based on Baldwin's reputation in Louisiana and his potential to reel in talent for a struggling independent program in the southwest part of the state. Before his hiring, the Cajuns (0-2) had struggled to find the right combination after posting three straight winning seasons from 1993-95. In 13 games since his hiring, life remains much more challenging for Baldwin than it has been for Leach at Tech, where better resources and support have paved the way for a 3-0 record to start the season.

''Our whole thing right now is about execution and effort,'' Baldwin said. ''We're a young team trying to get better. Last week, we learned we have to play hard for 60 minutes, not just for a quarter or a half.''

The Cajuns took a 10-0 lead last week at Texas before suffering a 52-10 loss against the Longhorns. The defeat marked the 11th in 13 games under Baldwin, whose celebrated recent efforts on the recruiting trail hope to breathe life into the program immediately.

True freshman quarterback Jon Van Cleave is set to get his first career start today against Tech, putting himself in line to be the savior of the future in Lafayette. Van Cleave, from Arlington, was named the 25th-best quarterback prospect in the nation last year by ESPN recruiting analyst Tom Lemming. His performance today expects to be key for his team's chances after former starting quarterback Derek Dyer left the team Sunday for personal reasons.

''We want to dominate the line of scrimmage on first and second down because that's when they run the ball mainly,'' Tech defensive tackle Kris Kocurek said. ''Then we can get them into a third-and-long situation when we can try to blitz them and get after that true freshman quarterback.''

As a 6-foot-4 drop-back passer with lots of zip in his arm, Van Cleave will test a Tech pass defense that ranks ninth in the nation. The Tech defense has allowed just two touchdowns all season and none in the first half, coming to the rescue of the pass-based offense that had made Leach an attractive candidate at Kentucky and Oklahoma.

Tech scored just one touchdown in last week's 13-7 against North Texas, which entered the game as a 30-point underdog. After the game, Leach criticized his team's blocking on offense for its overall inefficiency with passing and scoring.

''Blocking is one of the main problems we have right now,'' Tech running back Ricky Williams said. ''We need to execute the plays a little better and do things to the level where we're more consistent.''

The Cajuns enter the game as a 32-point underdog. A win would give Tech its fifth 4-0 start in the 76-year history of the program.

The rest of the story

By BRENT SCHROTENBOER
Avalanche-Journal
bschrotenboer@lubbockonline.com