A question came from Lance Guidry’s immediate left Monday, the inquirer curious about the first team Guidry opposes in the former defensive coordinator’s tenure at his alma mater.
“Is Tarleton the name of the town, the school or both,” the man asked.
Guidry cracked a smile and answered the question. Tarleton State is located in Stephenville, Texas, a town of just more than 18,000 people right in the middle of the country’s second largest state.
It is a seven-hour drive to Lake Charles, but the Division II university with an enrollment of 13,300 will bring cheerleaders, its Texan Stars dance team, its entire band and 300 more fans — selling out its allotment of tickets for a game the university and its administration hope will become a more regular occurrence.
The school, now a member of the Lone Star Conference, is attempting to become a Division I institution, a process that’s consumed athletic director Lonn Reisman and other university administration for the last four years.
If that move occurs, this previously mysterious team could function as more than just a season-opening filler before a reignited, week two rivalry game.
“The Southland is probably the only conference we’d consider,” Reisman said this week. “We are very proud to be a part of the Lone Star conference and very happy we are a part of it. This is basically our vision for the future.”
Reisman, also the school’s basketball coach, is beginning his 26th season as athletic director, a tenure that’s seen the Texans move from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) to Division II in 1994. A move to Division I is, logically, the next step.
Collegiate Consulting, a company focusing exclusively on consulting the collegiate marketplace, has already been to the campus, located 65 mile southwest of Fort Worth. It stayed for six to eight months, Reisman said, conducting an intercollegiate feasibility study.
“They felt like we’re ready to move up,” Reisman said. “They feel like our opportunity to move up is very, very valid after looking at everything we have to offer here and where we are and our campus.”
That campus is changing. As Reisman spoke Thursday, it was undergoing $300 million in construction. The football stadium is a $26 million project to make it, as Reisman called it, “state of the art.”
Tarleton State made a presentation to the Southland in 2005, when the conference added Central Arkansas and Texas A&M Corpus-Christi.
“They have been very forthright about their Division I plans and ideas and the commitment from the top, from the president and certainly the athletic director, about being in Division I,” Southland commissioner Tom Burnett said Thursday. “I will tell you in (2005) they did not present that in that manner. The impression in our group was they were not quite ready then.”
Reisman concurs. Since then, he says, the school’s added full-time strength coaches and a full-time academic staff.
Right now, Tarleton’s enrollment would rank fourth in the conference (using 2015 enrollment numbers). Reisman says the school mirrors Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin “more than people realize.”
Still, the decision rests with current Southland presidents. Incarnate Word and Houston Baptist are still completing transitions to Division I. Burnett says presidents have not sensed a “compelling need to expand or even discuss much about expansion.”
“Until, at least, we get these other two through the process and, perhaps, have a little more clarity in what we’re looking at going forward,” Burnett said, referencing also the Big 12’s impending expansion. “(Tarleton) has been very forthright in expressing a desire to move to Division I and also join our conference.”
Burnett’s advice to the Texans and, for that matter, any school interested in his conference?
“(Try) to play us in every non-conference opportunity they could,” Burnett quipped.
So here the Texans are, ushering in the Lance Guidry era of McNeese football as, Reisman admits, the program attempts to “step it up a bit.” He hired Todd Whitten, a former coach at Sam Houston State, to lead the program for a third time.
“I brought him back here last December to reestablish our football program because we understand that’s a very important program in the Southland Conference,” Reisman said. “Todd’s been in the Southland Conference as a head coach, he understands the Southland Conference as a head coach, so that helps me build our football program.”
With the rebuilding comes uncertainty.
Guidry said the staff prepared all week for both a 4-3 and 3-4 defense because it is unsure what new defensive coordinator Marcus Patton’s done to improve a Texans unit that surrendered 559 yards per game last season and held an opponent under 35 points once.
Few questions surround the Texans offense, orchestrated by offensive coordinator Mason Miller. Miller’s a Hal Mumme pupil who molds his offense around the Air Raid, leaving Guidry to expect four wide receiver sets and multiple deep balls against a Cowboys’ secondary without Dominique Hill.
“They might take some shots downfield, try to create some momentum plays and some explosive plays,” Guidry said. “Going in, that’s probably what they need to do against us.”
While a desire to win is obvious, Reisman has more in mind for this trip. He was an assistant basketball coach at Arkansas State in the early ‘80s. He coached against McNeese and Joe Dumars, so he recalls a “rich tradition” in Lake Charles.
Now his new university will soak it in.
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