Coming out of Northwestern State University, Rusty Phelps had his career plan mapped out. He was going to be a coach.

“Just being involved in athletics through high school, it was something I wanted to keep doing,” he said.

“I enjoy working with players and teaching, so it was all I ever wanted to do. I couldn’t see myself in business or anything else, I wanted to be in the coaching profession.”

Phelps landed a job right away, at Humphreys Academy in Belzoni, Miss. He quickly learned one thing — he had a lot to learn.

“You think that you know a lot, but you really don’t,” he said. “It was humbling. I didn’t know anything, basically. I knew how many you played with and I knew the positions. As far as getting down to the blocking and defending, I had no clue. It was a learning process, but I worked for a really good head coach (Dominic Belvaque) who impacted me on the fundamentals. He stressed being sound and blocking and tackling, protecting the football. That has stuck.”

So has the lessons Phelps learned from Belvaque.

“Coach Belvaque was old school,” Phelps said. “He did a good job of handling players, conditioned them, got the most out of them. We had a little-used receiver that was kind of stocky and was not going to play much his senior year. Coach moved him to defensive line and he became all-state. He gave people a role and made sure they understood it.”

Phelps soon got his first head coaching job at now-defunct Newellton High School in northeastern Louisiana. More lessons awaited.

“I did not know what I was doing when I became a head coach at Newellton,” he said. “I think I got the job because nobody wanted it. I remember going in there the first day and the principal said ‘You have 10 players. That is what we played five games with last year.’ It was like starting over. But, that experience taught me how to coach, how to work a field, cut the grass, get the concession stand ready. We were a Class A high school with one assistant.”

Phelps turned the program around.

“The whole key was just staying. They had seven head coaches the previous seven years. We were 1-9 our first year. We had about 14 or 15 kids. January rolled around and 10-15 kids came by and said, ‘You’re still here?’ I said, ‘Why wouldn’t I be? We are going to get this right.’

“I had seen the middle school play and had seen the kids in the hall. I think they just wanted to see that it was not going to be the same old thing. It was just showing that somebody cared. We implemented a weight program for them over the summer. We got some kids from the hall, got the influx from the junior high. The next year we had 35-40 kids out. My last year we had 53 out with only 75 boys in the whole school. We implemented freshman and JV programs. It was a community that wanted to get back to winning football games. It was a group effort with the community, administration and players. We were able to have some success. My last year we won 10 games and got beat by Evangel in overtime.”

“I learned how to build a program that became successful. You had to coach everything. You taught school all day then went and coached. That is one of the things that helped mold me. I taught a little bit of everything — American history, free enterprise, civics, PE, world geography. I enjoyed the classroom. It was another opportunity to teach. I did it 12 years here at Jennings, even as head coach. I enjoyed social studies. Being able to teach is important. Coaching is teaching. You are trying to get a point across and get something done right.”

From there, Phelps went to McNeese State as a graduate assistant.

“I had known Coach (Mike) Collins for a long time. He asked me if I would be interested in doing it, and I went down to visit Coach (Bobby) Keasler,” Phelps said.

“It was a wonderful experience to work with and learn from those coaches at McNeese. I was assigned to defense with coach Kirby Bruchhaus, who to this day is still one of the best defensive-minded coaches around, as are Coach Collins and Coach Tate, and Coach Keasler was a defensive guy. Just to be able to sit around and listen and take notes and work beside them daily was a big help and made me become a better coach.”

During his time at McNeese, Phelps developed a friendship with current McNeese head coach Matt Viator, then head coach at Jennings.

“My wife was already teaching at Jennings when I was at McNeese,” Phelps said. “I got to know Coach Viator then. They had a job come open and (Jennings Principal) Coach (Gene) Van Hook and Coach Viator asked me if I would come over and work. I knew the history and tradition of Jennings and took the job. Viator was another great guy to work for, to see how he handled the daily operation of the program. I spent a lot of hours talking to him about offense. I had always been a defensive guy. He made me understand it was OK to throw the football, that you could have a simplified throwing game and it could be effective.”

Not much was effective for the Class 3A Bulldogs the first time they took the field this season, when they were dominated by Kinder, a 2A school, in a scrimmage at an officials workshop.

“We went over there, and that was the first time other than practice our quarterback (Jaylon Boutte) had ever taken a snap. Dylan (Lavergne) was out with a shoulder injury and we were experimenting with Khris Watkins at running back. It didn’t look good at all, like a team that had only practiced a few days.”

Phelps said Boutte’s growth helped turn around the season.

“The year before he was playing receiver, playing corner and then he goes on to quarterback a team to a 10-win season and got better every game,” Phelps said. “It was his demeanor that I liked. My goodness, he would do anything we needed. He would run the ball on the scout-team offense. He would get pounded. But it was still ‘What can I do?’ If you needed somebody to run down on a kickoff, he would volunteer. He was so level-headed. He was never too low or real high. He was always steady, very coachable and wanted to improve, no matter what position he was at. How he developed as a quarterback was one of the big things for us.”

Also switching positions were Tre Richardson and Lavergne, who moved to running back from receiver and safety, respectively. Each ran for more than 1,000 yards.

“They were hard-nosed,” Phelps said. “A lot of the credit goes to the guys up front. They were good. A few of the linemen played as sophomores. When you line up against Neville, it makes you grow up in a hurry, and it carried over to this year.”

Phelps said he had an inkling a good season was in store during the first week of school.

“When we left the scrimmage against Kinder, I thought we improved against Barbe,” he said. “Then playing Northside in the jamboree, going over there and having success against someone we previously played in the playoffs was good. But the moment I knew was not a game. We tried something new during the in-service period this year. We started practice at 5 a.m. those three days. We practiced until about 7:30 and all of the kids showed up. A lot of that had to do with the seniors being there and setting the tone. Those were some of our best practices.”

The Bulldogs went 8-2 in the regular season, losing by three points to Eunice and four points to Notre Dame. In the playoffs, Jennings won rematches with Crowley and Eunice before losing by one point to Marksville in the quarterfinals.

“We played some great football games. Our players played hard and did something we hadn’t done in 10 years, get back to the quarterfinals,” Phelps said. “That was one of the goals for our seniors, to get past the second round. We have had some tough luck, running into some really good teams in 3A then being one of the smaller teams in 4A for two years. Playing up for two years helped this team.”

Phelps said his team had good camaraderie.

“I enjoyed how hard they practiced and played. You hear people talk about chemistry and however you get that,” Phelps said. “These guys really enjoyed being around each other. Their work ethic was fantastic. They came out and worked. A lot of that has to do with the coaching staff and the people you have around them. This was a highly motivated group of seniors.”

Phelps said assistant coaches John Richardson, James Estes, Mike Fontenot, Derick Lopez, Ronnie McZeal and Jason Flanagan were a big part of the success.

“They are football guys,” he said. “They work extremely hard. They work well together and have have a lot of football knowledge. I am proud of those guys. They do a good job of motivating our kids, preparing them. They have a vested interest in the kids. One of the things I really enjoy seeing is just them mulling around, talking to the kids. Not just the starters, but a JV kid or a sophomore. They do a good job of interacting with them. I think our players enjoy playing for them. I hope that is one of the things they take away from this program, enjoying playing for our assistants.”

Phelps said being named Southwest Louisiana’s co-Coach of the Year with Barbe’s Mike Cutrera results from a community effort.

“The credit should go to our administration, the assistant coaches and our players,” Phelps said. “That is what makes it happen, and the support staff at our school outside of the football program. It takes the student body, the cheerleaders, the dance team, the band. It is all a big part of Jennings High School and the community.

“I have been around Mike a long time. Coach (Jimmy) Shaver did a great job and Mike is carrying it on. We have scrimmaged Barbe for 17 years, and we get our money’s worth. Mike has done a fabulous job stepping in for a surefire Hall of Famer and carrying it on. I am proud to be sharing this award with him.”

The Phelps File

• Name: Russell E. Phelps.

• Born: Aug. 13, 1963.

• Wife: Martha.

• Children: Peyton (17), Walker (14).

• Education: Winnfield High School (1981); Northwestern State University (1987; B.S. in health and physical education).

• Coaching career: Humphreys Academy, Belzoni, Miss. (assistant, 1987-89); Newellton High School (head coach, 1989-93); McNeese State University (1993-94); Jennings High School (defensive line coach, 1994-95; head coach 1996-present).

Career record: 117-77.

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