The UL football program plans to stay within the Ragin’ Cajun family for its next assistant coach.
Gerald Broussard, a Lafayette native and former UL player and coach, has been pegged to become the new defensive line coach for the
Cajuns. He would replace Shawn Quinn, who resigned Monday after six years with the program to explore other opportunities.
In December, Broussard ended a three-year stint as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Stephen F. Austin, an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision School in Nacogdoches, Texas.
Broussard, an offensive lineman at UL from 1980-83 and a 1984 graduate of the university, spent 14 seasons as a coach for the Cajuns before making coaching stops at West Alabama, Tennessee-Martin and Scottsdale C.C. and McNeese State.
According to UL director of athletics David Walker, all job openings at the university are included in the hiring freeze imposed by Gov. Bobby Jindal on Jan. 15, the day after he took office. Jindal said he made the move to cut back on what he called "out-of-control government spending."
On Tuesday, Walker sent a letter requesting to fill the position to university president Ray Authement, who must forward the request to the UL system board of supervisors. It will then be forwarded to the Division of Administration for approval before the university can fill the position.
UL sports information director Daryl Cetnar said Broussard has volunteered to help coach the defensive line for the Cajuns during spring practice, which begins on Friday and ends with the annual spring game on March 15.
Messages left on Broussard’s home phone in Texas were not immediately returned late Tuesday night and Wednesday. His cell phone number had been disconnected as of Wednesday.
With the paperwork for Quinn’s resignation still pending, UL head football coach Rickey Bustle cannot comment because officially there is no open job.
Quinn is the second assistant to leave the Cajuns since the end of the 2007 season. Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Blake Anderson left in January to become the running game coordinator at Southern Miss.
To replace Anderson, Bustle brought in Jorge Munoz from Eastern Illinois in January to serve as UL’s passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach. Cajun offensive line coach Ron Hudson added another duty as the team’s offensive coordinator.
Football: BREAKING SPORTS NEWS: Quinn leaves position as UL’s defensive line coach
Joshua Parrott
jparrott@theadvertiser.com
February 20, 2008
| Taking a leap of faith, UL defensive line coach Shawn Quinn resigned Monday from his position with the Ragin’ Cajuns.
“I decided to take a step back and see what we’re going to do here,” Quinn told The Daily Advertiser late Tuesday night. “I’ve been here for six and a half years and just thought it was a good time to move on and do something different.”
A Carson-Newman (Tenn.) College graduate, Quinn coached outside linebackers at UL in 2002 before taking over as the defensive line coach in 2003. He was a graduate assistant at Tennessee from 1999-2001.
Quinn, 35, said rejoining former UL offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Blake Anderson at Southern Miss is “not an opportunity” as of right now.
“I’ve had a number of schools call me,” Quinn said. “Within two hours of resigning, I had three schools call me. We’ll see what the future holds.”
Quinn said he enjoyed his time with the Cajuns, who are coming off a 3-9 season in the sixth year under head coach Rickey Bustle.
“It’s been fun, and I’ve worked hard,” Quinn said. “It was just time. No one put a gun to my head. I just decided to take a chance. It’s been a great experience. The athletics program as a whole is going in the right direction.
“I appreciate the fans and coach Bustle. But my family and I are excited about finding a new path and seeing what happens.”
Quinn is the second assistant to leave the Cajuns since the end of the 2007 season. Anderson left for Southern Miss in January.
To replace Anderson, Bustle brought in Jorge Munoz from Eastern Illinois in January to serve as UL’s passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach. Cajun offensive line coach Ron Hudson added another duty as the team’s offensive coordinator.
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