By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

NATCHITOCHES – At first glance, Tuesday Natchitoches Central High School hired a recently deposed college football head coach to be the Chiefs’ third head coach in as many seasons.

Look again, says Jarrod Baugh, head coach of the state champion Ruston High Bearcats. His longtime friend Brad Laird has a long series of involvement with powerful high school programs (Ouachita, West Monroe, Nashville, Ark., and Longview, Texas) led by legendary head coaches, and was himself a great player on a state championship team for Ruston and later a successful head coach who helped set the foundation for the Bearcats’ return among Louisiana’s best.

Natchitoches Central principal Micah Coleman and athletic director Dean Johnson announced Laird’s hiring Tuesday morning, just over a week following the departure of Jess Curtis to the Lafayette area’s Southside High. Curtis, who guided his hometown Many High School to three small school state titles and three more state finals appearances in his last nine seasons there, admittedly relocated not because he was disenchanted with NCHS, but because of the opportunity in football down south along with nurturing a developing romance.

For Laird, taking over at NCHS continues his affection for his adopted hometown.

“The city of Natchitoches has been great to me. For 28 of my 50 years have been in Natchitoches in some form or fashion, and now I have the opportunity to stay in this community and be a part of Natchitoches Central Chiefs football and a great high school,” he said.

The Chiefs were 2-8 last season under Curtis and had their only winning record in many years, 7-4, in 2021 under second-year coach James Wilkerson, now an assistant at state champion Calvary Baptist.

Laird was considering opportunities outside of football when the NCHS job opened. He was also mulling an offer from Curtis to join the Chiefs’ staff as offensive coordinator.

When Curtis moved on, Laird immediately surfaced as the leading candidate for the post. He had resigned last October as head coach at Northwestern State, and while his 16-41 record in 5 ½ seasons was unimpressive and the Demons’ season was cancelled after six games by NSU president Marcus Jones in the wake of the off-campus shooting death of a player, Laird was hardly a pariah in the community. His hiring was widely hailed by locals on social media Tuesday.

Ruston’s Baugh joined the chorus.

“I know he’ll do a great job at Natchitoches Central. They’ve got a helluva football coach,” said Baugh, who landed in Ruston from Texas as an assistant on Laird’s staff over a decade ago.

“Brad’s done a lot of things in coaching, and was raised by a great coach (his late father Billy Laird). He’s coached on both sides of the ball and when he was here as head coach, he handled our special teams and we were always very good there,” said Baugh. “He’s a well-rounded coach, extremely knowledgeable, and does whatever he can to help kids. It’s going to be a very good situation for those folks.

“He has a lot of experience at several really good high school programs. It won’t be like he’s going to be feeling his way through. He’s going to be at the top of the scale as far as coaching high school football.”

Laird’s interest and that of the school system’s administration was mutual. As discussions proceeded last week, they agreed giving the new coach oversight of the feeder junior high school programs for NCHS was vital to developing the program – something Laird helped facilitate in his three years as Ruston’s head coach.

“The administration has been great. Their vision and mine aligned, and I’m so excited about the future,” said Laird.

“It starts at the top, in whatever business you’re in. With superintendent Dr. (Grant) Eloi, principal Micah Coleman, athletic director Dean Johnson, we have great leadership, and it feeds into the dynamics of the school. You’ve seen success in boys and girls basketball, in baseball and softball, in volleyball, and more throughout the year.  So you can forsee the success that will happen in the future in football.”

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com