But what about adjusting to a head coach being fired just four games into a season, a coach that had a 48-23 record at his alma mater before the plug was pulled?
That’s what McNeese State’s football team had to do in 2006.
Another McNeese grad - offensive coordinator Matt Viator (VEE-uh-tor) - was named interim head coach, a title that stuck until last week when the interim tag was dropped.
Viator told Missoulian.com Monday it all happened very quickly.
“It’s not like it happened and we had an open week,” Viator said about the firing of the man who hired him at McNeese. “(The) kids found out on Wednesday morning (three days before the next game).”
Since Tate also was the defensive coordinator and secondary coach as well as the head coach Viator had to realign the coaching staff. They were able to beat Southern Utah 30-27.
“At one time we were 2-4 after losing to Texas State at home (in) the first conference game,” Viator said. “It didn’t look real good but we were able to win the last five with three of them being on the road.”
Viator said it was just plain difficult for everybody concerned because Tate not only was a friend but also had hired all of the assistants accept one. It might have helped that every coach on the staff except offensive line coach Ben Norton was a McNeese grad.
“We pulled together as a staff,” Viator said. “Our mission was to give these young men the best chance that we could in the remaining seven games. I’m proud of the coaches for doing that.
“They (the players) did it, not us,” Viator added, “but we at least put them in a position to have some success.”
The Cowboys won at Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston Sate and Northwestern State and at home over Southeastern Louisiana and - in the conference clincher last Saturday - over Nicholls State.
Offensively Viator would like his team to be 50-50 between the run and the pass, not in terms of number of plays but in terms of production. Through Saturday the Cowboys had gained 1.934 yards on the ground and 1,719 through the air.
Defensively the Cowboys employ a 4-2-5 look and use zone and man pass coverage about equally with a little bit of pressure from both.
Viator has been pleased with the performance of his wide receiver corps. Junior Steven Whitehead leads the group with 42 catches, 543 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Carlese Franklin and junior Quinten Lawrence are next with 27 for 412 and 26 for 453. Franklin has six touchdown grabs.
“We do involve our wide receivers in the run game as well,” Viator said, “with speed sweeps, reverses, etc.”
Franklin and Whitehead also have thrown the ball this season with Whitehead’s completion going for a 27-yard touchdown.
Perhaps the real key has been the play of redshirt freshman quarterback Derrick Fourroux who came out spring ball listed as a back-up to Mark Fontenot.
“He’s done a tremendous job, especially down the stretch,” Viator said. “He’s taken care of the football. He’s thrown it pretty good and he also runs the ball.”
Fourroux is McNeese’s second-leading rusher with 370 yards and has the most carries on the team with 115. He’s also hitting 54 percent of his passes with 106 completions, 1,374 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Viator said the Cowboys’ running game has been pretty much “by committee.” Top runner Jamie Leonard sat out last week’s game and hasn’t seen much action in the last three contests. He and Fourroux have more than half of the total carries on the team.
The big gun on the defensive side is end Bryan Smith, a 6-3, 206-pounder who set the single-season sack record at McNeese with 12.5. Viator called him a special player and compared him to people Montana fans might remember.
“He’s a guy that reminds me a lot of kids that we played against in 2002 when Montana played here,” Viator said. “(Like) the (Tim) Bush kid. He’s just got a motor that don’t stop running. He plays extremely hard.”
Other top defenders include the other starting end, senior Kirby Joseph, who also ranks in the top five in sacks in the Southland Conference. The top linebacker is Trey Bennett, a junior, and the secondary is made up of players with experience led by junior strong safety Jamelle Juneau who has four interceptions, three fumble recoveries (one for a touchdown), and 74 tackles.
Like Montana, McNeese has gone deep into its roster this season. Viator hopes to have Leonard and Whitehead, the latter having seen limited duty last weekend, back and ready to go against Montana. He said the Cowboys, given the time of the year, are about as healthy as they could be.
McNeese and Montana both played South Dakota State this year. The Grizzlies won 36-7 and the Cowboys lost by three. Since Viator was scouting the Jackrabbits defense he saw a lot of Montana’s offense on video.
“It’s typical Montana I saw,” Viator recalled. “Good balance. A young man that could obviously throw the football. I remember them running the football very effectively, too.”
Montana has hosted a number of Southland teams in past playoff games including Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State, Northwestern State and Nicholls State. Viator has been contacting people at those schools to find out more about the Montana experience.
Northwestern head coach Scott Stoker is a former McNeese assistant who has been to Missoula. Norton was assistant head coach at Sam Houston when that team came to Missoula in 2004.
“They all have nothing but great things to say about going to Montana and what a great venue it is and how good they were treated there,” Viator reported. “We know it’s a tough place to play, obviously.”
Viator was the offensive coordinator for McNeese when the Cowboys came from behind at home to beat Montana 24-20 in the 2002 I-AA quarterfinals. McNeese made it to the national championship game that year, losing to Western Kentucky.
“We were very fortunate to win that game,” Viator recalled. “We were losing and really getting kicked around pretty good and we were able to rally.
“That … was a special (McNeese) team,” he went on. “We had several guys that went on to play in the NFL, and it was a different team.”
With so little time to prepare for a playoff game, especially one on the road, Viator said the focus will be inward for McNeese State.
“What we’re trying to do is get back focused on what we do,” he said, “and go to Montana and do what we do as good as we can do it. That’s the only thing we’re going to try to do.
“If it’s not good enough than we can certainly accept that, but we want to make sure that we go up there and do what we do.”
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