Monday, 13 December 2010
Written By: Dan McDonald
Category: ULL News

LAFAYETTE - Mark Hudspeth doesn’t lack for confidence – or enthusiasm – when he talks about taking over UL Lafayette’s football program. And he expects to be successful.

“Everyone we talked to during this process said that this place was like a ticking time bomb,” Hudsepth said Monday after being introduced as the Ragin’ Cajuns’ 25th head coach. “And we’re ready to light that fuse.”

That’s what the Cajun fans wanted to hear from Hudspeth, who served as passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach at Mississippi State for the past two seasons. But they also wanted to hear that the university would give the 42-year-old Hudspeth a chance to be successful, and they also heard that at Monday’s announcement.

Hudspeth’s financial package is more than 60 percent higher than that paid to Rickey Bustle, who was let go with a year remaining on his contract in late November. Budgets for assistant coaches’ salaries were also dramatically increased, as was that staff’s recruiting budget.

Notes & Quotes on Hudspeth hiring
UL athletic director David Walker said that the pool for assistants’ salaries and recruiting were now both atop the entire Sun Belt Conference – a stark contrast to Hudspeth’s last potential job in Louisiana. He was involved in the coaching search at UL Monroe last year, but reports were he withdrew due to the low budget for assistants’ salaries.

“It’s like night and day,” Hudspeth said when comparing last year’s ULM discussions and his negotiations with Cajun administrators. “When I first met with them, I felt the strong commitment, from both the administration and the community. When you know you have a fighting chance … if you go into battle with a little stick, that’s not good, and we’re going into battle with a big stick.”

A 19-year coaching veteran, Hudspeth helped turn around the Mississippi State program – one that had only one winning season in a nine-year span. This season, the Bulldogs went 8-4 and earned a Gator Bowl bid against Michigan, a game that Hudspeth will now miss.

“Coach (Dan) Mullen was gracious enough to invite me to stay and help with the bowl game,” Hudspeth said, “but I’m going to be a little busy here now.”

Before going to MSU, Hudspeth spent seven seasons as head coach at North Alabama, making the Lions an NCAA Division II power. UNA had a 66-20 record during his term – even with a 4-7 mark in his first year in 2002 --, won two Gulf South Conference titles, made five NCAA playoff appearances and had 15 D-II All-Americans. The Lions were nationally ranked for 54 weeks and were in the top 10 for 38 straight weeks during a streak when UNA had four straight 10-win seasons.

“It was important to us to have somebody with head coaching experience,” said UL associate athletic director Scott Farmer, who was in charge of most of the search process. “But Mark had a lot more than just that experience.”

And Walker, who retires as Cajun AD at the end of this month, stressed that it was the right kind of experience.

“We got some inquiries from people who had always coached on the highest level, in the SEC and Big 12, on that kind of level,” Walker said. “I don’t think they had any concept of the restrictions we have. There would be such a learning curve …”

Hudspeth shouldn’t have a learning curve offensively. His UNA team averaged 41.3 points per game in his final season in 2008, when the Lions reached the Division II semifinals at 12-2. They were 10-2 and 11-1 the two previous years and reached the national quarterfinals.

“Offensively, you’re going to see a wide open scheme,” Hudspeth said. “The manager staff said they put peppers on the backs of helmets for big plays. Well, we’re going to be making a whole bunch of gumbo.”

To that effect, Hudspeth said that Louisiana would be his long-term base of recruiting operations, but he will likely seek some immediate help from the junior college ranks.

“We’re going to build a fence around this state, and keep our guys at home,” he said. “We’re going to build a program with Louisiana high school players. But we’re going to try to pluck some kids out of Texas, Mississippi, the Florida panhandle. We have some dire needs in some areas that had a lot of injuries last year, so we’ll be signing some juco kids right now.”