By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Wrapping up their first week of preseason practice this evening, the Natchitoches Central Chiefs have new head football coach Brad Laird smiling.
“This time of year everybody’s excited, and there’s an added excitement because there’s a new staff. One thing about these guys at Natchitoches Central, you can tell they came ready to work. They have worked in the past, and so it’s been fun for us to be able to take over that,” said Laird Thursday evening.
Since NCHS did not stage spring practice as Laird was building his coaching staff, the Chiefs got their preseason camp started a week ahead of most teams. It’s been a week filled with teaching new schemes and a new practice style. This evening’s workout will be the fifth in helmets and no pads as the Chiefs, exactly 100 strong with freshmen through seniors, go through their paces on J.D. Garrett Field on campus.
“Just now being able to solidify, in the last couple of weeks, our coaching staff, so right now the biggest things we’re doing is 1) playing with great effort but 2) the install,” said Laird.
“Any time a new coaching staff is involved, you’re going to have schematically things that are different. School’s about to start, football season is about to be here, and these guys have shown their excitement with their work ethic.”
Classes start Wednesday for freshmen, Thursday for the students in grades 10-12. But for the team, they’ve learned a lot already as they’ve settled in under Laird and his staff.
It’s the first time since 2016 that Laird has coached on the high school level. He was 28-18 from 2013-16 at his alma mater, Ruston High, where as an All-State quarterback, he led the 1990 Bearcats to an undefeated state championship run and a national No. 1 USA Today ranking.
For the last seven years, Laird has coached at Northwestern, as head coach from 2018-23. There the team roster was filled with players on scholarship and eager walk-ons hoping to earn scholarship money and playing time. Back in the high school ranks, Laird is enjoying a different motivation from the players, some who he’s watched for years since his son Brock is a senior baseball standout at NCHS.
“That’s what’s fun to watch, because they ultimately choose to come out here and be involved. To me the biggest satisfaction is to be able to watch these young men from as early as third, fourth, fifth, sixth grade, and then ultimately when they graduate as seniors, to see how far they’ve come on, and off, the field,” he said.
There’s a bigger picture, something he’s always kept in mind every step of the way since he entered coaching after wrapping up his playing days as a record-breaking QB at NSU after the 1995 season.
It’s obvious as the broad smile on his face and the sparkle in his eyes as he moves through the Eugene Christmas Fieldhouse, watching the Chiefs gear up for their evening practice.
“The field is the same, college or high school, just as long and wide. The hash marks are different, the goalposts are wider at this level,” he said. “There’s so much you can learn on a football field, outside of football, and that hasn’t changed. The opportunity to do this in Natchitoches at this level has been fun and I am looking forward to many more days of this.”
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com
