Football: Q&A with new UL coach Mark Hudspeth

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • December 15, 2010

In the midst of a successful run as North Alabama’s head football coach, Mark Hudspeth left the NCAA Division II school after the 2008 season to follow his dream

Hudspeth always wanted to be a head coach at the highest level of college football, but he knew making such a leap from the D-II ranks would be nearly impossible. So Hudspeth accepted a job as Mississippi State’s receivers coach and passing game coordinator with the plan of eventually becoming a head coach again.

Two years later, the energetic Hudspeth finally got his chance to become an FBS head coach. UL officially introduced the 42-year-old Mississippi native as the 25th head football coach in school history on Monday.

"I feel like my best attributes are being a leader, and being a head football coach is what I do best," said Hudspeth, who went 66-20 with five D-II playoff trips at North Alabama from 2002-08. "That’s what I enjoy the most. I enjoy having my hand in everything, and I will. I will be involved in every part of our football program."

Following Monday’s press conference, Hudspeth sat down for a Q&A session with The Daily Advertiser.

What were some of the reasons that you took this job?

One of my goals was to become a Division I head football coach, but another goal of mine was to stay in the southeast, particularly in the Louisiana/Mississippi/Alabama/Arkansas area. One program that has always been interesting to me was the University of Louisiana for the fact that it’s right in the heart of some of the best high school football in the country. You’ve got so many players just on I-10, not even counting north Louisiana or the New Orleans area. The entire state is so rich in talent. Lafayette looked like a perfect place to call home. I felt like this was a perfect opportunity for me to put my stamp on a program and take a program from one level and take it to a new level.

To backtrack, why did you leave North Alabama when you did?

We had had four straight 10-plus win seasons over those last four years and really had a lot of success and had a lot of great players.

I wanted to become a head coach at the Division I level for a new challenge. I had some opportunities but didn’t quite seem like some of the opportunities that I would have liked to have gotten.

Then when the Mississippi State position became available, I felt like it was a great opportunity to come in and expand upon what I felt like I already knew.

Anytime you go to a new place you learn new ideas and new things that you either take or don’t take with you. It really prepared me even more to be the head football coach at the University of Louisiana after being in the SEC for two years and helping take our team this year to the Gator Bowl.

What are some of the key things that you must do over the next 30 or 45 days after assuming control of this program?

The two most important things we have to do is fill out our coaching staff and as we complete that we’ve got to hit the ground running in recruiting. Being this far behind, we have to make up a lot of ground. A lot of times when you have a newness of a program, you get some new life and a lot of exposure. That helps you in the recruiting process a little bit, and we’re going to try to feed off that. We’re going to get out there and see as many kids as we possibly can. A lot of these kids we’ve already evaluated when I was at Mississippi State because we recruited Louisiana. We’ll also try to pluck a few players from the Mississippi junior colleges that we can hopefully get here in January to fill a few needs that seemed to be voided this past fall due to so many injuries.

Most of the current UL players went home after final exams for the fall semester concluded last week. How do you plan to reach out to your new players?

It’s hard to have a team meeting because everybody’s gone in different directions. I’m going to work on calling all of the players on the team before they come back and introduce myself and let them know that coach Hud is going to do everything he can every day to make this program the best program it can possibly be. On the other hand, I’m going to expect those guys to work harder than they ever thought they could when they return.

As UL’s new head coach, how much do you have to sell your program every chance you get?

I think that’s what I have to do. Good head coaches are able to do that. Anytime you can market your program and sell your program, create a new friend or fan of the program and create more interest all that does is benefit your program in so many different ways. (Getting more) people in the stands. Increase revenue through ticket sales and fundraising. All of those things go hand-in-hand because if we can do all of those things we’re going to be able to improve our facilities. If we can improve the facilities, we can improve recruiting. If we can improve recruiting, we’re going to improve wins and losses.

Who have you spoken with in the coaching ranks since taking this job?

You have a lot of friends in this business and your coaching mentors and people that you have a lot of faith and confidence in, and you run things past them. It’s always a learning process in this business. The day you think that you know it all is the day that you’ve lost the game. I’ve spoken to a few coaches, and hopefully one of those coaches that I’m bringing here is (Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College head coach) Steven Campbell. He coached me at Delta State when I was a player and then I was his offensive coordinator when Delta State won the (D-II) national championship (in 2000). He has always been a guy that I’ve enjoyed talking with. I’m excited that we might be able to team up again.

What additions have you already made to the coaching staff?

I’ve got a few spots already secure. Reed Stringer has been named the recruiting coordinator. He was with us at Mississippi State and left last year to go to Clemson. I’ve brought Marquese Lovings from Mississippi State. He will be one of the assistant coaches. Greg Stewart will be the defensive coordinator after being the defensive coordinator at Jacksonville State. He was a part of some really big wins there and had some great showings in the last few years like when they beat Ole Miss (this year) and almost beat Florida State and Georgia Tech. His defenses have had some incredible performances for a team that has gone to the FCS playoffs.

He’s going to be a great gain for our program. I’ve got a couple of guys that are in bowl games that I can’t release until their bowl games are completed. If you notice everybody we’re bringing in comes from a winning program.

What should Cajun fans expect to see from your team on the offensive end?

Offensively, you’ll see a team that plays with a great tempo. That is one of the differences in our offensive scheme compared to some of the other ones out there.

We’ll play at a very fast tempo and be a no-huddle football team. There are so many reasons why you do that. It gives you so many advantages.

We will have a lot of diversity within our scheme. We’ll be very multiple and utilize a number of personnel. You’ll also see a team that really strives to protect the football.

This past year at Mississippi State, we went four straight games without a turnover. If you can do that, you’re going to have a chance to win a lot of football games.

What will UL’s trademarks be defensively with Stewart as the defensive coordinator?

The key will be that we’ll be very multiple. These days in college football, the players and coaches are so good that you can’t just line up and hold bags as we call it. You’ve got to give teams different looks and disguise coverages and fronts.

We’ve got to do a great job of being very multiple and putting the best 11 football players that we can on the defensive side of the ball.