Mark Hudspeth is your favorite underground band. For now.

Follow TSS on Twitter @TheStudentSect

This article won’t get many reads, but that’s fine. I probably should have titled it, “HERE’S HOW OHIO STATE COULD LOSE 5 GAMES IN 2015 AT FOOTBALL” to get extra clicks, but when they found out it was about a Sun Belt team, all bets are off. That’s how a lot of them grade their websites now, not by “clickbait” but by how many people stay engaged to the article long enough to assume they read it.

Years ago, I was on the computer machine using this thing they called Napster. At the time, it was pretty cool when you were in your teens with no money. The young people today have it pretty easy. At any rate, in searching for new bands I wouldn’t hear on the radio, I found this group called Newfound Glory. I listened to a few tracks and thought, “holy crap, this stuff is really good.”

At the time, they were no-names, at least nationally. I told my friends. They did the whole, “how did  you find these guys!?!” deal. I told other people, because when you’re a teenager and finding new music everyone likes, you feel like some sort of savant. Eventually, other people found Newfound Glory. They toured with Blink 182, were prominent on Warped Tour, and eventually carried their own tour.

They’re still going today, although the end is probably nigh. They put on great shows, and everyone I took thought, “damn, this is a great show” and stuff like that.

Mark Hudspeth is the coach at Louisiana Lafayette and he’s your band nobody really knows about. I mean, people in coaching know about him, like people in music know when guys are going to hit a few years before they actually do. But Hudspeth is that guy. He’s a simmering explosion on the major college scene at some point, almost inexplicably still waiting on his shot.

Hudspeth was hired to take over for Ricky Bustle 2011, who was moderately successful in Lafayette but had seen a dip in wins. Immediately, the Cajuns won 9 games and lost 4 games. They haven’t stopped winning 9 games and losing 4 games exactly since then. Which is something of a statistical impossibility, one would think.

First time I saw him was a few years ago, and I texted a few friends who would care and said, “this Hudspeth dude from ULL … he’s a big deal.” No one knew what I was talking about. Newfound Glory all over again.

He was giving someone the red ass over a mostly innocuous mistake, and that’s when I realized he was going to do well wherever he went. I mean he was hot as a two dollar pistol. And then five minutes later when they were making plays, man, he looked like he could have run through a wall of cinder blocks and the blocks would quake in fear.

His sideline demeanor never really changed. He was always excited. Like, when his feet hit the ground in the morning (assuming he sleeps) he’s pumped up. You can’t help but respect that.

Hudspeth is a coach that always seems to have his pants on fire. His teams haven’t always had the most talent, nor have they had much luck from an injury perspective, but they just find ways to compete and win. This year may be his most daunting challenge, with decimated offensive line depth, having to break in a new quarterback, and having questions littered about the roster save for the linebacker position.

But ULL will figure it out because they always seem to. Coach Hud seems like he can take whatever you have in the fridge and will it to 9 wins, which means players buy into him. He was ridiculously successful at North Alabama before coming to ULL. He’s been successful everywhere he’s been, and that’s telling. Give me the guy who was successful in retail, food service, financial management, and coaching youth soccer over some guy with the exact same job history wherever he went, successful or not.

Hailing from Mississippi, it’s only natural that he’ll probably end up staying in the south if the jobs come calling. The two in-state programs are in flourish mode the likes of which they’ve never seen simultaneously, so it might not be in his home state where that chance comes. But we’ve seen massive job openings in the SEC over the last few years … Auburn, Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas … and all came and went without Coach Hud getting the nod.

Being a Michigan fan, folks asked me who I wanted if Jim Harbaugh didn’t come, even though I insisted back forever ago that Jim Harbaugh was coming. I said it didn’t matter because Jim Harbaugh was coming, but if aliens took him to the mother ship tomorrow and it couldn’t happen, call Mark Hudspeth ASAP.

Someone will find him one day. And he’ll be able to carry the tour on his own. For now, ULL is lucky, because he’s still playing venues with $5 cover. But alas, he’s your favorite band no one knows about. Tell your friends. Especially if they’re boosters. And for the record, Ohio State won’t lose 5 games this year.

Quantcast