Bearcat pride carries on

The hardest pill to swallow about winning year-after-year in sports is you rarely do it with the same group of people.

Rosters always change, coaches look to capitalize off past success to make their own, talk of contract extensions festers, and long- term projections often spoil most teams’ chances to live out a run of success with trusted players and coaches.

Competitive windows with a familial feel are short-lived at the highest level.

But at Ruston High, in a Bearcat football program experiencing another golden era of success, capped off with the school’s first state championship in 33 years last December, winning hasn’t come at the cost of losing experienced coaches.

Ruston’s recent return to football dominance hasn’t had to hit a hard reset each offseason. Instead, a coaching staff worthy of mobility sticks together.

The head coach is back, now eight years on the job, even though his profile has never been bigger. The defensive coordinator, with persistent NFL and college coaching offers, isn’t going anywhere. How about an offensive coordinator receiving head coaching opportunities? It’s been no thanks so far.

Why continue to work with each other, even after reaching the mountaintop?

Offensive line coach Bryan Beck, coaching varsity football at RHS since 2018, said it’s all about giving kids the best experience possible.

“We’re searching in our industry for good coaches to mentor kids, good educators to get into education; and when you have people here you can share an office with every day and genuinely want to be around and serve each other with, it makes it easy. I’m blessed to be a part of this,” Beck said.

Head coach Jerrod Baugh doesn’t take his staff ’ s high retention rate lightly. He knows maintaining standards and relationships means everything in a high school, especially one like Ruston with aspirations to win every year.

“It’s very big. I think that by keeping most guys intact, they’ve learned what my expectations are,” Baugh said. “It takes a lot of pressure off me because early on, and not that the guys didn’t have high expectations, I felt like they didn’t know me and didn’t know how I was going to operate and how I wanted things done. Now, when there’s continuity in your staff, they understand what it is we’re supposed to do. I don’t have to go back through and explain all the details. You can come in and have a quick meeting to make sure everybody knows what’s going on. I think that’s irreplaceable as far as being able to keep some continuity in your staff and those guys know what your expectations are.”

It’s clearly paid off, with Ruston boasting a 50-14 record over the last five years, including a 9-2 record this year with another chance to win a state title.

Here’s why some of Ruston’s longtime coaches have stayed and love what they do.

Kyle Williams (Defensive Coordinator)

Kyle Williams remembers sitting in church at The Bridge in November 2019 feeling like the sermon was for him.

The six-time pro bowl defensive lineman for the Buffalo Bills and former Ruston High football star felt himself losing interest working for NFL Network and consulting (player evaluation, game planning) for the Bills – at the time a year removed from retiring following the 2018 season.

“I told my wife that I’m not satisfied with this. I didn’t want to do the NFL thing anymore because I want to watch my kids grow up and I want to be around them,” Williams said.

A short time later, in what he credits as divine direction, Williams found himself hanging on every word of pastor Chris Hanchey in a lifechanging fall morning in 2019.

“He starts talking about the heart and giving,” Williams recalled. “ It was one of those deals where it was like, ‘ Why is he talking to me? There are a hundred other people here. Why is this for me?’ And I just went, ‘You know this is fun and it’s easy but it’s not fulfilling, and I don’t feel like I’m dug into it.’”

Williams knew his current path wasn’t what he was truly called to do. After the service, Williams decided with his wife he’d meet with Baugh to discuss what opportunities would be available for him at his alma mater. Williams watched in the stands on Nov. 29, 2019, as the Bearcats fell to Zachary in the 5A quarterfinals. Following the game, Williams met with Baugh.

“ I said, ‘Hey look, I gotta work through the end of the year in Buffalo. But I’m not going to resign and do that. I’d be willing to talk’” Williams said. “And he said, ‘ Come Monday and we can visit and see what it looks like.’ I came in that Monday, and we started talking, then I finished my work out in Buffalo and decided to come here. The rest is history now.”

Williams officially joined Ruston’s staff in early 2020 – what turned out to be the worst time to get into hands-on coaching in a physical, sweaty, and violent game.

“ We got him on in March. Of course, that was a hell of a time to be your first coaching job,” Baugh said with a chuckle. “His first football season, his first deal in coaching, was figuring out how to play football without touching or breathing on anybody.”

“I think whenever he made up that he was going to be here, he made up his mind he’ll stay here until all his kids graduate, which is good for us because he could get a wide range of jobs. He gets job offers all the time in college and the NFL,” Baugh said. “Very fortunate to be able to keep him here. I think this is what he wants to do, and he wants to coach his boys whenever they do that. That will be special times for him and them.”

Coaching is about connection for Williams. He believes football, at its core is about trust. It’s built on relationships. The teams that win, no matter the level, have strong ones. And he didn’t feel connected to the NFL lifestyle anymore.

But with Ruston, and the lifelong memories created in Lincoln Parish, those never went away. When he saw a chance to give back to the community that shaped him, there was no stopping him.

“I’ve always had such an affinity for Ruston High School and my experience here in this community. And I really knew what the effect my high school football coaches had on me. I had great parents that taught me right from wrong. But even starting at junior high with Rodney Bagwell and Willie Young and Randy Hayes and then getting to high school with Tommy Reeder and Mark Ware and Shannon Frazier; I know what all those guys poured into me. It changed my perspective of my life.”

He still looks like he could return to his days as an NFL defensive lineman, with a voice and stature that demands attention and respect. But for his tough exterior, Williams’ emotional side is always just under the surface when you talk about his players, his adopted kids.

Like any father, Williams relishes the successes of his players, disciplines their mistakes, and protects them with unmatched passion. He loves them but isn’t afraid to let his displeasure be known when it comes. His yes means yes and no means no.

And when the work is finished and the time for celebration is in hand, or on hand in the Bearcats’ case when they got their championship rings in March, Williams can’t help but get emotional.

“We did our state championship ring ceremony and coach Baugh and I are sitting there talking and watching all the kids enjoy it. We look over and I see Jadon [Mayfield] and Zheric [Hill] and they’re hugging it up. And I get a little choked up talking about it,” Williams said. “And I said, ‘That’s why we win.’ You get kids like that who buy in and believe it and it becomes an experience you can’t replicate.”

Williams has been part of some of the biggest stages any football player could ask for. But nothing compares to suiting up for the Bearcats and playing for an unbreakable brotherhood.

“I played 13 years in the NFL. I played in six Pro Bowls. I played on Monday night and Sunday night. The only football game ever invented that I haven’t played in is the Super Bowl. And I’ve told them, ‘If the good Lord came down and said, ‘You got one left to play.’ I’d play with my friends here,” Williams said.

“That’s how impactful it was for me. So, it’s really important for me that we provide that kind of experience for them, because I know how it can carry you. I spend seven days a week for half the year, five days, hours and hours a day with kids and you genuinely love them. I treat them like my boys. I know that sounds good but I’m gonna hold you accountable and you’re going to do the right thing. And I think they know that nobody is going to get after you more, but nobody will square up and fight for you harder either.

“Just lucky and blessed to be here, and to do it in a place I love.”

Earl Griffin

Ruston’s offense has had no shortage of skill talent over the last six years. But through graduating classes, quarterback changes, and more, offensive coordinator Earl Griffin has been a constant on that side of the ball.

“Coach Griffin has been here one year longer than me,” Baugh said of his OC.

When Brad Laird left Ruston High, Baugh, Laird’s offensive coordinator at the time, took over head coaching duties – needing to form his own staff to shape the Bearcats into his vision of success. Griffin knew that a coaching change at the top meant assistant positions were in flux.

But Baugh trusted Griffin’s offensive expertise and kept him on as running backs coach. Good call. From there, he moved to receivers. And now, over the last three seasons, Griffin has served as offensive coordinator of one of the most explosive units in the state. Since 2022, Ruston has averaged at least 32 points per game, including 37.4 points per game in 2024, and had multiple All-State running backs and All-District quarterbacks run his show.

Griffin still doesn’t take lightly the chance Baugh took on him to stick around through a new era of Bearcat football.

“Coach Baugh has been a major mentor for me,” Griffin said. “When he first got here, I was trying to learn his new system. Sitting down with him and learning Xs and Os as far as what he knows and his terminology, it made me into the coach I am today. When coach Laird brought him in, I didn’t know what my role would be. Usually when coaching changes come along, you don’t know if you’re going to have a job or not. But coach Baugh embraced us, and he’s been running with us.

“He gave me the offense a couple years ago and it’s a yin and yang type of deal where we both listen to each other. I love coach Baugh. I can’t say enough about him.”

Now, in his 11th season as a coach in the Ruston program, Griffin is a household name in the region for his offensive creativity and game planning. And with that reputation comes the chance for schools to poach Griffin for themselves.

Griffin has been offered head coaching jobs at other programs but has turned them down – opting to stay with his home in Ruston.

“When I got into coaching, my goal was to be at my alma mater,” Griffin said. “Yes, a lot of opportunities have become available. It just wasn’t the right fit. I wanted to be at home and around the guys that I’ve known for my whole life, known their kids too. It wasn’t in God’s will at the time and that makes me remain here at home.

“It flies by when you’re having fun. I didn’t know it was already year 11. That’s crazy.”

Baugh is grateful for Griffin’s transparency throughout potential job searches but is most thankful for his passion to help the Bearcat program win at the level it’s expected to.

“I think he was in the running for the Wossman head coaching job at some point and he’s been called other times about jobs. I think whenever he looks at it, Ruston’s a very good place to be. It’s a good place to work,” Baugh said. “The administration backs you up and supports you. I think he realizes that.”

And Baugh knows Griffin’s desire to stay is far from just choosing comfort.

“I think there’s part of it where he was a part of getting this football program back to what it had been in the 80’s with coach (Chick) Childress and before that with Hoss Garrett. I think there’s a lot of pride with Earl in that,” Baugh added. “Right now, we’ve been fortunate to hang onto him too.”

Griffin’s passion is undeniable. Whether it’s 10 minutes into a Tuesday afternoon practice or a Friday night with the offense needing a score, Griffin’s meter is the same. He’s never afraid to let a player know of a mistake. But when it all works right and the Bearcats find the end zone, he’s the first to celebrate and hype up his group.

Playing in the program will do that to you. Griffin knows, at Ruston, there’s never time to except 50% execution or effort. And as he tries to carry on that standard to the offense today, he promises to never waver on the spirit that’s allowed him to stay home this long.

“All the kids here, I know most of their kinfolk. Some of them are related to you. You come up in the community and we know football means everything here,” Grifin fin said. “We love it. We live, sleep, and breathe football. I love every moment of it that I’m here.”

Bryan Beck

With his first season at Ruston coming in 2018, offensive line coach Bryan Beck has had a front-row seat to the program’s steady climb up the mountain of success.

And when you come into work every day for that long with former NFL pro bowlers, college stars, and championshiplevel coaches around you like Beck has, it demands your best every day. Even at a position like O-line where the grind can wear you down, Beck knows the coaching staff’s stability makes each coach much better than the day, week, or year before. That’s what it takes to stick around.

“When you’re talking about guys like coach Baugh and his pedigree and what he’s built here, Kyle Williams in the NFL too. In my opinion, he’s a Hall of Famer. It makes it really easy to stick around guys like that,” Beck said. “[Cornerbacks coach] Kenny Wright played in the NFL. (Former Louisiana Tech lineman) Josh Mote coming into our staff is huge. To be able to get guys like that is a big deal. You gotta come to work every day when you know the guys around you know way more than you. You want to coach up to their level.”

Beck has developed the maulers up front to pave the way for Ruston’s offense throughout this run of success. Veterans and youngsters alike can shuffle in and out and it’s hard to tell at times the gap in experience. It’s evident this year, as the Bearcats’ projected starting line had to change multiple times due to injuries and sickness. No problem for Beck and his group, with the Bearcats averaging 250 rushing yards per game in the early goings of 2024.

Last year, in Ruston’s march to the state title, the Bearcats averaged at least 5 yards per carry in 11 of their 14 games. It’s not possible without a sturdy line.

Beck passes credit off to the program’s onetrack mind that Baugh has implemented over the years.

“Since coach Baugh has been the head coach, and I’ve had kids come through here, it’s very important for him from 6th grade to 12th grade they know what to do. He puts as much pride and passion and work ethic in our 6th grade program as he does here,” Beck said. “We all speak the same language in terms of our same system. When they get here, the speed of business picks up a little bit, but terminology is the same. It does make it easy. We go down and talk with the offensive line coach 6th grade and it’s all the same stuff. That has a trickle-up effect if you will to be able to have the success we’ve had on the field.”

Ruston’s coaching staff is unique, not only in each coach’s respective experience but the trust they place in each other. It shouldn’t be a surprise as to why they’ve sustained success for this long.