He oversaw the resurrection of a now-dominant football program and the construction of the three-story press box suites high above the stadium that houses it. Four other athletic facilities were constructed and 17 teams won Southland Conference titles, cementing his alma mater as one of the league’s most preeminent athletic programs.
None of this — championships, buildings or fundraisers — wrote Sonny Watkins’ legacy. Watkins, who died Friday night, did that on his own, perhaps unknowingly. It left those he employed and those with whom he associated cherishing the aura and attitude with which he lived.
“(He was) a gentleman who showed a lot of respect for people,” said McNeese State associate athletic director Bridget Martin, Watkins’ co-head coach during his tenure as the Cowgirls’ basketball coach. “He had a way of developing relationships and that meant a lot to him. Basketball is what brought us together, but I learned from him how important relationships are and how you treat people. And I think he treated people the way he’d want to be treated.”
Described as a witty man who sought no attention and was never without smile, Watkins was a four-year basketball letterman at McNeese from 1963-66 before immediately being hired as an assistant coach for the four years following his graduation.
Watkins and Martin coached at St. Louis Catholic High School — Watkins the boys basketball team and Martin the girls — before coming to McNeese in 1990. He was named athletic director in 1995, the beginning of an 11-year tenure that catapulted the university to otherwise unprecedented athletic accomplishments.
Under Watkins’ leadership, the Cowboys played in two Football Championship Subdivision national championship games, won seven Southland football titles and won the all sports trophy in 2011-12. The All-American Football Foundation recognized him as one of the nation’s best athletic directors in 2004.
“He was a very easy guy to get to know and, really, to get along with,” former McNeese football coach Matt Viator said Saturday. “An easy guy to work for. He let you do your job and someone I thought was very, very approachable. I can’t tell you enough good things about him … We became really close not just as a boss but as a friend.”
Watkins, who was still called “Coach” by most of his employees, hired Viator, former women’s basketball coach Brooks Donald Williams and former Cowboys baseball coach Mike Bianco.
“He’s just a fantastic man, he really is,” Williams said Saturday. “He’s a former coach, a distinguished community member and I think we’re all certainly saddened for such a big loss for the Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana community. Just a big loss. A really big loss for the McNeese family.”
Watkins, one of only three men to play, coach and later become athletic director at McNeese, drove Williams to the Cowboy Club following her introductory press conference in 2007.
“By the way,” Watkins told his newest employee as she exited the car, “I’m announcing my retirement tomorrow.”
Floored, Williams began to fret. The program she just inherited had won five games.
“You’re going to do great,” he reassured her. Everything’s going to work out fine.”
“He didn’t get rattled,” Martin said. “That was something I could lean on. When I’d get all worked up over something, he was there to let you know that the sun would come up tomorrow. You’re going to work through this situation, you’re going to learn from it, you’re going to overcome it. He didn’t panic.”
Already in the McNeese Hall of Fame, Watkins was inducted into the Southland Conference’s Hall of Honor in 2011, joining his longtime sports information director Louis Bonnette as two of five McNeese representatives in the hall.
“I’ll remember him smiling,” Bonnette said. “Every time I walked into his office he was smiling.”
Martin remembers the coaching — a no-nonsense, defensive-minded approach that did not tolerate laziness. It is the embodiment of how Watkins lived, on and off the court.
“Hard work would be enough to make you successful,” Martin said. “I think he just woke up every day knowing he was going to do his best and that would be good enough.”
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