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Mr. Joseph "Joe" Aillet (Deceased)
Graduated 1927
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A native of Youngsville, Joe was student assistant coach for both football and basketball during his senior year at S.L.I.
Coach Aillet passed away on Dec. 28, 1971.
The following information was provided by Jean Moore, Louisiana Tech Media Relations.
Joe Aillet, Louisiana Tech’s athletic director and head football coach, is regarded as one of the nation’s best small college mentors and has complied an enviable record at Tech since 1940. Aillet, the dean of Louisiana College coaches, was elected to the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1959. His Tech grid teams have won or tied for the GSC title seven times.
During Aillet’s time, Tech teams have won 122, lost 61 and tied eight. His Tech teams have had only two losing seasons, once during World War II and again in 1951 when he made a change to the “T” formation.
In his first 10 years, Aillet’s teams operated from the Notre Dame box formation. He changed to the “T” formation in 1951 and switched to the winged-T in 1958.
Aillet is a 1927 graduate of Southwestern Louisiana Institute and started his coaching career at Haynesville, La., that year.
While a successful high school mentor there, he laid the foundation for the formation of the North Louisiana High School Coaches association and spearheaded the drive that resulted in birth of the Louisiana High School Coaches Association.
He became an assistant coach at Northwestern State College in 1936 where he remained until taking the Tech post in 1940.
Aillet has been pesident of the GSC, was “coach of the year” in the loop three times, has held a number of posts in the American Football Coaches Association, the Pop Warner Midget League, and was lecturer at the Arkansas High School Coaches clinic in Little Rock this past summer.
The Tech Athletic Director is also Golf Coach and his Golf Teams have won seven GSC titles in the past nine years.
In 20 seasons at Tech, Aillet’s teams, besides winning or trying for 12 titles, have finished second six times, third once, and fourth once.
Louisiana Tech Football Guide, 1961
Joe Aillet
Football Coach- AD (1940-1970)
Inducted Jan. 3, 1984
The winningest football coach in Tech history (151-86-8 in 26 seasons) and the man for whom Tech’s football stadium complex is named. Coach Aillet’s teams produced 12 conference football titles and nine golf crowns. He is a member of the Louisiana Sportswriters, NAIA and Natoinal Football Foundation’s College Football Halls of Fame. Died Dec. 28, 1971
Louisiana Tech University Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Banquet, Feb. 14, 1992
A hallowed name in Louisiana Tech athletics and virtually a legend in his own time is the legacy of Joe Aillet who heads the intercollegiate athletic program at Louisiana Tech.
With the opening of the modern Tech stadium this fall Coach Aillet will see a long-cherished dream come true as he has been the driving spirit behind the constructions of the athletic complex.
After posting a magnificent 151-86-8 record during his 27 years as head coach of the Bulldog gridiron fortunes, Coach Aillet relinquished his coaching duties following the 1966 football season and, thus, ended 40 years in the profession.
A member of the NAIA Hall of Fame he was one of eight nominees for the 1964 NCAA Coach of the Year and was named to the position for the group’s Southeastern district after his Canines posted a superb 9-1- record.
Four times he has earned the “Coach of the Year” selection by the Gulf States Conference; four times was president of the league; and has held uncounted appointive posts in the American Football Coaches Association. The GSC honors are commensurate with his domination of the circuit as Bulldog entries have won or shared the championship 13 times; finished second on seven occasions; and third, twice.
Joe’s career spans a colorful era in American collegiate sports. He attended high school at New Orleans Holy Cross and matriculated first at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas. He entered the coaching field at Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now University of Southwestern Louisiana) as backfield coach while completing his work toward a degree. He was employed at Haynesville, La., High School after earning his bachelor’s degree at SLI and his masters at Louisiana State University.
After nine years at the Claiborne Parish school he took over as backfield coach at Louisiana Normal (now Northwestern State University) in 1936 from where he moved to Tech.
Although Coach Aillet has relinquished the football coaching reins to devote his full talents and energies to the athletic directorship he continues to coach the Tech golf team. His abilities there are graphically illustrated by the linksters’ 10 GSC titles in 15 seasons.
Aillet and his wife, Ruby, have two children and 14 grandchildren.
1968 Louisiana Tech Football Guide
