Former Football/Current Coach:Desormeaux ‘blessed’ to be back in the Cajun fold

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, Aug. 20, 2016

Had the call never come, Michael Desormeaux could have lived with it.

The former Ragin’ Cajuns quarterback never did view his old job as head coach at Ascension Episcopal School in Youngsville as a mere stepping stone to the next-best gig.

“I’m not a grass-is-greener-on-the-other-side kind of guy,” he said. “I’m a live-in-the-moment and make-this-thing-the-best-it-can-be.

“I was 100 percent happy where I was at Ascension, and I could have seen myself being there for 40 years and being happy and being content with what I was doing and who I was.”

But when the phone did ring, and a position as receivers coach at UL was his for the having, Desormeaux ultimately knew what  he must do.

The fence had to be jumped.

All that the one-time star Cajuns QB needed was that last little shove.

With that having come from someone who knows him well, Desormeaux is now two weeks away from his first game as an assistant for his alma mater when UL opens Sept. 3 against Boise State.

“This was kind of the opportunity that my wife and I talked about — and Lindsey had been with me as a player, going into high school coaching and coming full circle,” said Desormeaux, now a 30-year-old father of two. “I said, ‘If UL ever offered, that would just be a job there is no way you could ever turn it down.’

“Whenever it came up, basically she said, ‘What are you waiting for? This is what you’ve always kind of said.’

“Sometimes,” he added, “you just kind of get blessed beyond ways you could ever imagine.”

The opening at UL arose first when offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jay Johnson left over five years for the same post at Minnesota and Jorge Munoz, Desormeaux’s ex-QB coach and pass-game coordinator during his final season with the Cajuns, was tapped to succeed Johnson.

At the time of his promotion, Munoz had spent the prior five seasons as UL’s receivers coach under head coach Mark Hudspeth.

But it wasn’t Desormeaux who was hired first.

Instead, former Southern Mississippi running backs coach John Simon was picked early this year to replace Munoz.

About a month later, however, Simon left for a better-paying job at Arizona State. In the crazy world of college football coaching, that happens.

Simon’s quick departure, however, had the Cajuns beginning spring practice last March with the job vacant again and, for a few weeks, Hudspeth coaching the receivers himself.

Enter Desormeaux, who after completing his career at UL from 2005-08 spent some time in 2009 on the practice squads of the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders and the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.

He then joined the high school ranks, first from 2010-13 as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks at Catholic High in his hometown of New Iberia and later as head coach at Ascension from 2013-15.

At Ascension, where his brother, Matthew, is now the head coach, Desormeaux took over a Blue Gators team that went 0-9 in 2012 but finished 11-2 in 2015.

“For a while we didn’t have a coach,” said UL receiver Gabe Fuselier, a Catholic High product himself. “We were worried about that.

“But I don’t think it could be a better fit for coach Des,” Fuselier added. “People know what he did here.”

The Cajun junior never personally saw Desormeaux play for UL.

“But I heard he was the real deal,” Fuselier said.

With 2,842 yards, including 1,141 in 2007 and 1,035 in 2008, Desormeaux still ranks as UL’s No. 5 all-time rusher, trailing only leader Tyrell Fenroy, former NFL running backs Brian Mitchell and Alonzo Harris and current Cajuns senior running back Elijah McGuire.

The 1,141 remains the fifth-best single-season rushing total in Cajun history.

He also still ranks as UL’s No. 9 all-time passer with 3,893 yards, including 1,405 in 2007 and 1,876 as a senior in 2008.

“I’ve told everyone this: Mike Desormeaux is the best player that I’ve ever coached, to this day,” said Munoz, a UL assistant since 2008 and an assistant at five other schools including Eastern Illinois.

“Not just what he did on the field, but off the field. A guy that was a 4.0 student, a guy that was just a great leader. Led by example, but also vocally. That’s hard to do nowadays, with guys that can back it up on the field as well.”

Having someone with those credentials back in the fold is part of why Hudspeth listened to Desormeaux’s supporters and made the hire he eventually did.

“Any time you bring back a former player — not only a former player, but one of the greatest players here in the history of the school — they’re gonna take pride in their program,” Hudspeth said.

“He’s been here before. He knows what it means to be a Ragin’ Cajun. And there’s nobody else that wants to see our program succeed more than coach Des. So I’m excited to have him on board.”

Perhaps only two people are more thrilled.

One is Desormeaux himself.

“It’s such an honor,” he said. “People ask, ‘Did you ever expect …?’

“Never, in a thousand years, would I have expected this honor. I’m so blessed, and so thankful, that Coach Hud and Coach (Troy) Wingerter (UL’s director of football operations) and Coach Munoz pushed to have me back. It’s a dream, to be able come back here.”

The other?

That would be Munoz, who prior to Hudspeth’s arrival worked with Desormeaux as his QB on a so-called “Play Station” attack offense that in 2008 produced a then-record 5,390 yards of total offense and then-record 59 touchdowns.

For Desormeaux, working with his old mentor may mean as much as being back on campus.

“It’s a really cool dynamic,” Desormeaux said. “I had the utmost respect for (Munoz) when I played for him, and that’s only growing when you work with him as a colleague.

“He’s just so detail-oriented, and his passion to win and to be great is as much as anyone else I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m not gonna lie: I was really fired up (by Desormeaux’s hiring),” Fuselier said. “I feel like he was a receiver (and not a QB). He’s just a student of the game, really.”

Wideout Ja’Marcus Bradley was redshirted as a freshmen last season, but now he’s expected to start when the Broncos visit Cajun Field.

“It was hard not knowing who was going to coach us,” he said, “but when coach Des came in we just attached on to him real quick.

“He’s a good man. He’s one of those coaches that he’s not gonna yell at you, but he’s gonna teach you in the right way.

“He’s helped me a lot. He stays in my head a lot, telling me just to stay on my grind, and if I mess up just let it go,” Bradley added. “Because I’m really hard on myself, and he just tells me to don’t worry about it and play the next play.”

With the Cajun offense planning to play up-tempt like it did during his days as its QB, Desormeaux knows some things – like looking forward, not back – should never change.

UL went 3-9 in 2007 but 6-6 when Desormeaux in 2008, and while the Cajuns did go 6-5 when he a freshman in 2005 they never did play in his bowl game during his college career.

Flash forward, and UL — coming off a 4-8 season in 2015 — went 9-4 and won the New Orleans for each of four straight years starting when Hudspeth arrived for the 2011 season.

“As a player you don’t know everything,” said Desormeaux, the Sun Belt’s 2008 Offensive Player of the Year. “But it seems like it’s a much-tighter ship (now), and Coach Hud is so detail-oriented.

“Every part of the day is scripted and scheduled and planned. That’s, in my opinion, why they’ve had the success they’ve had. No detail goes unnoticed. Never is there a dull moment, or a ‘What if?’ or ‘What do I need to do out here?’ You always know what to do.

“As a young coach coming into this, that helps tremendously,” Desormeaux added, “because you know, ‘We need to do this,’ and then move on to the next thing. The sense of urgency with the way things are done here is just different.”