LAFAYETTE — Louisiana is set to bring a familiar name back to Lafayette.
Marquase Lovings is expected to become the Ragin’ Cajuns’ running backs coach, according to sources, returning to a program where he previously spent seven seasons on staff.
He takes the job after long-time assistant Matt Bergeron left the program to become the offensive coordinator at Southeastern.
Lovings comes to Louisiana after four seasons at Arkansas State, where he helped engineer one of the most significant rushing turnarounds in the Sun Belt Conference. The Red Wolves nearly doubled their rushing production during his tenure, increasing from 88.2 yards per game in 2022 to 156.9 yards per game in 2024.
Under Lovings’ guidance, running back Zak Wallace earned honorable mention all-conference honors in 2024 after rushing for 732 yards and 11 touchdowns, the most by an Arkansas State back since 2013. Lovings also coached Ja’Quez Cross, who has totaled 1,446 rushing yards over the past three seasons and could become the program’s 10th all-time 2,000-yard rusher as a senior in 2025. In 2023, the Red Wolves’ trio of Cross, Wallace and Cedric Hawkins combined for 1,447 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns, while Johnnie Lang Jr. earned All-Sun Belt honors in 2022.
Lovings has extensive experience across the South and a long history with Louisiana. From 2011-17, he spent six seasons as the Cajuns’ running backs coach and one season as the defensive line coach, helping the program reach five New Orleans Bowl appearances and four bowl victories. During that span, Lovings coached Elijah McGuire, who earned Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year honors. McGuire rushed for more than 4,300 yards and 42 touchdowns in his career before being selected in the sixth round of the NFL Draft by the New York Jets.
Lovings was a nominee for the Broyles Award in 2014 and later earned recognition as a member of the AFCA’s 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute.
Before his most recent stop at Arkansas State, Lovings served as the defensive line coach at Nicholls in 2021, helping the Colonels rank second in the Southland Conference in total defense. He also spent time at Austin Peay, where he was named interim head coach during the fall of 2020 after serving as associate head coach and defensive line coach. The Governors won four of their final five games that season, and in 2019 ranked among the FCS’ top 15 in rushing defense, total defense and scoring defense.
Lovings also coached at Nicholls in 2018, helping the Colonels secure the first of back-to-back conference championships, and began his collegiate coaching career at Mississippi State from 2007-10 as a defensive quality control coach and graduate assistant.
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