Published: May 16, 2008 12:39 am            

Woodard could be heading to Lamar

The future of Navarro football coach Ray Woodard could be decided as early as today.

Woodard is a finalist for the vacant Lamar University head coaching job and the Lamar University Board of Trustees were expected to approve the addition of football Thursday.

Navarro president Dr. Richard Sanchez told the Navarro College Board of Trustees Thursday an announcement would be made today.

Woodard, however, said nothing is final.

“It’s a little too soon to know anything right now,” Woodard told the Beaumont Enterprise Thursday. “We are still waiting for the board of regents to approve football.

“From there, the college will move forward sometime this week or next week.”

Lamar University students passed a resolution on Jan. 29 to raise student fees to fund the return of football at Lamar for the first time since 1989. The board of trustees passed a resolution to accept the raise in student fees.

Aside from the hiring of a football coach, Lamar’s biggest hurdle in bringing back football is the renovations costs, estimated at $15-$20 million, to fix Cardinal Stadium.

Lamar has been interviewing candidates for the head coaching job since March and Woodard is listed as one of 11 candidates by the Beaumont Enterprise.

If he is chosen, Woodard would return to an area familiar to him. He is a native of the Corrigan-Camden-Lufkin area — 107 miles northwest of Beaumont — and lived in Lake Charles for 10 years.

Woodard’s first cousin, Charlie Woodard, is a former coach at Silsbee High School.

“It’s about getting the right fit for Lamar and the Golden Triangle,” Woodard said. “I think that’s something everyone wants.”

In his first year as head coach at Navarro, Woodard led the Bulldogs to a Pilgrim’s Pride Bowl win over Georgia Military and a SWJCFC Championship. Navarro finished the season ranked fourth in the nation with a 8-3 overall record.

He spent three seasons as defensive coordinator for the Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe before returning to Texas as a high school coach where he spent two years as a coach at Burton.

“This is not a done deal,” Woodard said emphatically. “I don’t know if I am the No. 1 choice or not. I have to like my chances, but nothing’s been finalized.

“If I was a betting man, I’d bet I wouldn’t say anything — even if I knew something,” he said, playfully laughing. “I would say we all will know something very soon — either the first of next week or the middle of the week.”

The Cardinals will play in the Southland Conference, a member of the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly 1-AA), with current members Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana, Texas State, Northwestern State, McNeese State and Nicholls State.

If hired, Woodard will sign Lamar’s first recruiting class in February of 2009. All players will be redshirted as Lamar will begin play in the fall of 2009 in a series of scrimmages. The Cardinals will officially begin play in the Southland Conference in fall 2010.

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Perryn Keyes of the Beaumont Enterprise contributed to this report.

        

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