Football: Napier Announces 2021 Coaching Staff

2021 staff is comprised of five returning coaches and six new additions

LAFAYETTE – Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Football head coach Billy Napier has finalized his coaching staff for the upcoming 2021 season, it was announced on Tuesday. The group is comprised of five returning coaches and six welcomed additions to the Ragin’ Cajuns Football staff.
 
Patrick Toney returns for his second season as Defensive Coordinator, and fourth season overall on staff, now working specifically with the outside linebackers. Michael Desormeaux and Tim Leger have been elevated to Co-Offensive Coordinators and will continue to work with the tight ends and wide receivers, respectively.
 
Associate head coach Mark Hocke returns for his fourth season as the program’s head strength and conditioning coach, with assistant head coaches Jabbar Juluke (Running Backs) and Rory Segrest (Defensive Line) also returning in their same roles.
 
New to the staff ahead of the 2021 campaign are five assistant coaches: Jeff Burris (Cornerbacks), Jeff Norrid (Offensive Line), Galen Scott (Inside Linebackers), Darnell Stapleton (Assistant Offensive Line) and Wes Neighbors (Safeties).
 
Norrid spent the last two seasons on staff at Florida Atlantic working with the offensive line. Prior to joining the Owls, he boasts coaching experience at Arkansas, Auburn and Alabama, where he spent three years on staff with Coach Napier.
 
Assisting Norrid with the offensive line is Stapleton, who joins the Ragin’ Cajuns after three seasons working with the same unit at Sam Houston State. Stapleton played for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2007-09, starting at guard on the Super Bowl XLIII team.
 
Scott joins the Ragin’ Cajuns after spending the past two seasons at North Texas, where he also worked with the Mean Green’s linebackers. While in Denton, his position group had two strong seasons in 2019 and 2020, paced by KD Davis, who led the team in tackling both seasons en route to earning Honorable Mention All-Conference USA honors.
 
Burris heads to Lafayette after a three-year stint at Louisiana Tech, where he coached defensive backs. During his time in Ruston, Burris coached defensive backs L’Jarius Sneed and Amik Robertson, who were selected with back-to-back picks in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders, respectively.
 
Neighbors joins the Ragin’ Cajuns after coaching stops at South Florida, Florida Atlantic and Alabama. Most recently serving as the safeties coach at USF, the newly appointed defensive coach will work with Louisiana’s safeties in 2021.
 
Serving as Special Teams Coordinator and Director of Quality Control and Analytics will be Chris Couch, who arrives after five seasons in a similar role at Tulane. Couch worked with two different Tulane teams (2018, 2020) that earned bowl berths during his time with the Green Wave.
 
Louisiana Football’s 2021 season and the fourth year of the Napier Era will arrive soon. Fans are encouraged to secure their season tickets now, which includes six games at Cajun Field. More information can be obtained by calling the Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office at the Cajundome, (337) 265-2170, or by visiting the office in-person.