LAFAYETTE — It's a new year and a new era for Louisiana's track and field team.
With the retirement of longtime head coach, Lon Badeaux, longtime assistant, Tommy Badon has been promoted to head coach.
Since being apart of the Cajun culture for years and years, I asked Badon was the job offer the easiest yes and he tells me he actually was hoping and praying for the job.
"I tried to play it all cool like, yeah I've been thinking about it and on the inside I wanted to ask if I could start tomorrow", says Badeaux.
It's been a long marathon for Badon. His coaching days at Louisiana stretch back as far as 1989. He then transitioned to the high school level, bringing in many titles to both Lafayette Christian and Westminster Christian, even dabbling in football where he continued to find success.
He would then return back to his roots at UL in 2018.
"There's no doubt that having the head coaching title is something that's different when you're in that chair. It just is", says Badon. "I've been a head coach at the high school level for a long time and running a program but in this particular case, you're running also assistant coaches, alumni, charging to raise some money. So, it is a different feel."
"I wouldn't say it feels any different to me because everybody still has the same mindset of that we still want to win", senior hurdler Kennedy London added. "Coach Badon always had the winning mentality as an assistant and now as a head coach."
But the apple never fell too far from the tree.
Badon is a graduate of then USL in 1981, and doing things the "Cajun Way" is a big part of who he is.
In fact, he leans on the 4 P's — plan, prepare, practice and perform — and that applies beyond the track as well.
"Just a better man because a lot of things I do in track, I take in my real life too", senior sprinter Trejun Jones confirms.
Recruiting local athletes like Trejun Jones is so important to Badon because as a local Acadiana native himself, Badon has a lot of pride in the talent already in the Hub City, and
bringing in great talent from the outside just adds more flavor to his recipe for success.
"We've done an excellent job at recruiting some of the best kids in Louisiana and I have been known as a recruiter during my career and I think it's kind of the lifeblood of the program. We have a saying, "Raw materials matter'". "You may not have the fastest times in high school but if you have the talent and you match that with coaching, it's going to come out."
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