Football: Rebowe leaving Cajuns on high note

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, December 21, 2014

 

NEW ORLEANS – His exit from the same stage on which he’s finished four straight seasons means curtains are closed on what, even by Broadway standards, has been quite a run.

It’s the end, in fact, of a decade-plus-long era.

UL secondary coach Tim Rebowe worked his final game as a Ragin’ Cajuns assistant last Saturday, when the Cajuns beat Nevada 16-3 at the Superdome for its fourth consecutive New Orleans Bowl win.

Rebowe decided to leave UL a few weeks before the bowl, having already been named new head coach at Southland Conference-member Nicholls State.

He agreed to see things through, however, and coached his defensive backs through a postseason game in which the Cajuns allowed Nevada a New Orleans Bowl record-low 124 passing yards.

It’s believed that the move means the Sun Belt Conference no longer will have a coach — assistant, or head — who has been tenured with a member program since the league’s football inception.

Rebowe — an assistant at UL Monroe when the SBC started playing in football in 2001 until 2003, and an assistant at UL since 2004 — is pretty certain he’s the last of the bunch.

That, though, wasn’t what was foremost on his mind as the Cajuns celebrated a New Orleans Bowl win that followed ones over San Diego State in 2011, East Carolina in 2012 and Tulane in 2013.

“You know,” he said, “right now it’s not about me.

“We said early in the week we wanted — I wanted — four bowl-championship rings. I was talking about for these players, and this team, and this program. And I’m so happy, especially for the seniors.

“You know, you can’t start naming all the guys on the team,” added Rebowe, who is regarded as one of the top recruiters in Louisiana. “But (for) the seniors to go out with the special thing they did, four bowl championships — some guys don’t even get to go to a bowl. Some coaches don’t get to go to a bowl, you know?”

The last time Nicholls State’s job was open prior to this season, Rebowe didn’t get it.

He hadn’t coached in any bowls then either.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Rebowe said. “Now I’ve got four bowl rings, and now I can take some of this success to Thibodaux.”

With that, Rebowe smoothly shed one hat and donned the next.

“This is the last (Sun Belt game for him). I’ve got to turn it over to somebody else,” he said. “But I’m excited about the new start. A lot of work to be done in Thibodaux.

“I’ve got to hit the road recruiting, get our coaches on board and go turn it around in Thibodaux, Louisiana.”