Flashback: Mid December 2001 ( the Bustle hire )

[Turbine]

Originally posted by towele
Bustle has accepted job! Finally!

Delphi 12-13-2001

[Turbine]

Originally posted by Cajun90
This off the VT board.

"Ricky's wife has been offered a tenure track faculty position at ULL as well. That this is an OPPORTUNITY for both of them to further their careers makes all the difference in the world. He will take the job if no unexpected issues arise. "

Delphi 12-13-2001

[NewsCopy]

Bustle Named Head Man at Louisiana-Lafayette

Will call plays for Tech in Gator Bowl
December 13, 2001

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Virginia Tech offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Rickey Bustle has been named the head football coach at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. Bustle accepted the position Thursday morning and was introduced as the new coach at a press conference in Lafayette, La., Thursday afternoon.


"This is just a great opportunity for a first-year head football coach," Bustle said. "I promised my wife that I wouldn't just take any job just to be a head coach. This football program has a lot of promise, especially being in the Sun Belt Conference and having a bowl tie-in.


"Virginia Tech and Blacksburg have been the most special places that my family and I have ever been. This has not been an easy decision because of the roots that we have there, but it's one that I've been waiting a long time to make."


"Coach Bustle has given a lot to our offensive team while in Blacksburg," Virginia Tech head football coach Frank Beamer said. "His success with quarterbacks is obvious. We've had some of our-highest scoring offenses in school history under him."

During Tech's Gator Bowl Media Day on Thursday afternoon, Beamer announced the promotion of assistant head coach/offensive line coach Bryan Stinespring to the role of offensive coordinator. Stinespring will maintain his role as the offensive line coach and a search for a new quarterbacks coach will begin immediately. Despite the move, Bustle will be on hand to coach the Tech offense during the Hokies' Gator Bowl game against Florida State on Jan. 1, 2002, and will call the plays for the Hokies. Stinespring will take over the role as the offensive coordinator after the game.

The rest of the story

[NewsCopy]

Bustle gets Louisiana-Lafayette post

LOUISIANA La. -- Rickey Bustle, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Virginia Tech, was named the new head football coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette on Thursday.

Bustle replaces Jerry Baldwin, fired last month after a 3-8 season and a 6-27 record during his three years as head coach.

"I promised my wife that I wouldn't just take any job just to be a head coach," Bustle said. "This football probram has a lot of promise, especially being in the Sun Belt Conference and having a bowl tie-in."

The conference champion earns a spot in the New Orleans Bowl, a new bowl which will be played for the first time on Dec. 18.

Louisiana-Lafayette just completed its first season in the Sun Belt.

In Blacksburg, Va., Virginia Tech officials said Bustle would stay on with the university long enough to call plays against Florida State in the Gator Bowl on Jan. 1.

Bustle has been quarterbacks coat at Virginia Tech for 14 seasons. For eight seasons he has also been offensive coordinator.

The source of story

[NewsCopy]

ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES BUSTLE AS FOOTBALL COACH…Dec. 13, 2001

LOUISIANA La. –. On what was an otherwise gloomy Thursday in the Acadiana area, it was nothing but sunshine around the Louisiana-Lafayette Athletics Department.

Louisiana-Lafayette Director of Athletics Nelson Schexnayder announced the hiring of Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Rickey Bustle as the school’s 19th person to guide the Ragin’ Cajun football team.

Bustle’s hiring is pending approval from the University of Louisiana Board of Trustees. He is replacing former head coach Jerry Baldwin, who spent three years as the program’s top man.

The 48-year old Summerville, S.C., native brings one of the top offensive minds in college football. For the past seven seasons (eight overall), he has served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Virginia Tech.

While in Blacksburg, Bustle developed some of the finest quarterbacks the college football world has seen in recent years. Included in the list are NFL players Jim Druckenmiller and Michael Vick. Vick was the first pick in the 2001 NFL Draft.

The offense, meanwhile, put up some of the most exciting numbers around. The 1999 Hokies averaged a national-best 41.4 points per game, as Virginia Tech advanced to the national championship game.

In Bustle’s first seven seasons as offensive coordinator, the Hokies fielded seven of the eight highest-scoring teams in school history. Most importantly, the team posted a 67-17 record and won three BIG EAST Conference Championships. The Hokies have been to a bowl game every year he has served as the offensive coordinator.

It is that winning tradition that got Schexnayder’s attention very quickly.

“We are extremely happy to have someone of Rickey’s enthusiasm and experience here,” Schexnayder said. “He’s worked with some great football teams. I am deeply appreciative of the efforts of Dr. (Ray) Authement, which allowed us to hire a coach of Rickey’s background, qualifications and experience. The future of UL football is certainly a bright one.”

Bustle will continue his offensive coordinator duties at Virginia Tech through the Hokies’ Jan. 1 Gator Bowl matchup with Florida State.
Meanwhile, Bustle will get to focus his attention on building a Louisiana-Lafayette football program that just completed its first season in the Sun Belt Conference. While the school has only tallied nine wins in the last five years, Bustle knows that the new affiliation with the conference -- as well as the school’s commitment to a strong football program—will turn that stat around.

“This is just a great opportunity for a first-year head football coach,” said the amiable Bustle. “I promised my wife that I wouldn’t just take any job just to be a head coach. This football program has a lot of promise, especially being in the Sun Belt Conference and having a bowl tie-in.”

Bustle has spent all but one season at Virginia Tech since 1987. In 1994, he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at South Carolina. From ‘87-92, though, he was the quarterbacks and receivers coach at Virginia Tech before moving to the offensive coordinator-quarterback coaching slot in ‘93.

His ties to Louisiana include a three-year stint at Northeast Louisiana (now UL Monroe) from 1984-86, where he started as the running backs coach for two seasons before becoming the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He has also had coaching stints at East Carolina (1980-82) and the old USFL’s Arizona Wranglers in 1983. He broke into the full-time coaching ranks as the defensive coordinator at Garnder-Webb in 1979.

Bustle is a 1976 graduate of Clemson University, where he received a degree in parks and recreation administration. He was a three-year letter winner as a wide receiver for the Tigers from 1974-76.

Bustle is married to the former Lynn Sanders of Charleston, S.C., who received her PhD., in curriculum and instruction from Virginia Tech in December 1997. They have a son, Brad.

LOUISIANA SI