Louisiana football assistants get extensions. Here's why Michael Desormeaux didn't
Nine of Louisiana football’s 10 on-field assistant coaches officially received a contract extension.
The University of Louisiana Board of Supervisors at its scheduled bi-monthly meeting in Baton Rouge on Thursday lent approval to the university and coaches’ agreements to tack on another year to each of the deals’ terms. All 10 coaches’ contracts now run through Jan. 14, 2025.
Offensive line coach Jeff Norrid’s contract through Jan. 2025 was approved back in April.
Noticeably absent from the Board’s agenda Thursday was an automatic extension for Ragin’ Cajuns head football coach Michael Desormeaux.
“We’re not doing an automatic retrigger right now, but we fully expect we will do that,” Louisiana Athletics Director Bryan Maggard told The Daily Advertiser following Thursday’s meeting. “I’m very pleased with the job Mike is doing.”
Just like in all of the football coaches’ contracts, Desormeaux’s deal with UL has the procedural one-year addendum in there but it’s subject to renewal “at the school’s option” as long as Desormeaux “has met all annual performance targets after an annual evaluation” that was scheduled to have occurred by July 1.
In Desormeaux’s debut, the Cajuns earned a bowl bid — the program’s sixth straight — and played in the Independence Bowl but ultimately fell to Houston on a blistering cold night.
UL finished the season 6-7, the first losing season since 2017, former coach Mark Hudspeth’s final season before Billy Napier was hired.
Maggard said he and Desormeaux met after the conclusion of the 2022 season and worked through how the season played out. Desormeaux also assessed how he led and coached the team in his first year as head coach.
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“I wanted to hear from him. I wanted to know how he assessed his own leadership in year one,” Maggard said. “The thing is we had a first-year playcaller on offense, a first-year playcaller on defense, first-year special teams coordinator and a first-year strength coach. That’s a lot of firsts. And not to mention all the student-athletes that were lost to the NFL Draft and the transfer portal.
“Since 2007, only 46% of first-year coaches won fewer than six games. Mike was in the positive and he was a first-year coach that played in a bowl game. When you look at all the differences, I was extremely proud of the job Mike did.”
While Maggard anticipates the UL football team performing better in 2023 and ultimately extended Desormeaux’s contract, it’s hard to predict when it could happen. It could happen as soon as during the season, according to Maggard.
“Midway through the year, we’ll see how we’re looking. I fully anticipate (the extension) happening, I can’t tell when for sure. I have all the faith in Mike and I have no doubt he’ll be very successful here at UL,” Maggard said.
“He has my full support. We want to do everything we can to position him and the football program together to win championships. And now with the College Football Playoff expansion, we want to position ourselves to be in one of those spots.”
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Why Louisiana football coach Michael Desormeaux didn't get extension
