Gary Goff says he isn’t worried about the past and isn’t thinking about his future.

The McNeese State head football coach, who enters his third and most pivotal season leading the Cowboys, insists his sole concern is the present.

He says it’s all about his players, staff, and the 12 games ahead of them.

Tunnel vision is a wonderful thing.

So are second chances, and Goff was given just that this season. He and his staff got a rare opportunity in today’s world of college sports: a shot to fix a mess.

Granted, Goff inherited a dumpster fire when he took over the program in December of 2021, and he, along with the rest of us, watched it burn out of control last season with a program-worst 1-10 record.

Try as they might, Goff and the Cowboys couldn’t contain the blaze. The minute one set of flames was extinguished another popped up.

Everybody got burned.

There was even a scandal involving the leaking of game plans and practice videos.

A season like the last one was likely inevitable after all McNeese had been through, but a second one is unacceptable.

“This season is very important to me, we all know what is on the line,” Goff said. “But we are not going to worry about that. We are gonna coach hard and do our job to our best ability and we’ll see how the wins start stacking up.”

To his credit, or perhaps demise, Goff didn’t throw anybody on his staff under the bus, bringing most back despite going winless on the field. Changes were made, but those were additions to the staff and directional moves within the program.

With 59 newcomers, the Cowboys have a different look and feel to them as they head toward Saturday’s season opener at Tarleton State. Nobody wants to live through another season like the last one, especially Goff.

“I don’t want the staff and this team to go out there with any kind of weight of ‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God on them,’” Goff said. “I’m not gonna allow that. I want to go out there and have fun and coach hard and do what we believe in.

“I want these guys here to play that way … I want them to play freely and have fun playing this game and not worry about that pressure. Everybody wants to win. But you know what? Nobody wants to win worse than those young men do in that locker room.”

It’s early, obviously, but Goff seems more confident about this year’s team heading into the new season. Camp, although long, has been run much better.

There has been a crispness to the workouts, an order that has seemed much more professional and mature. And there has been discipline.

It could be that for the first time in almost a decade, McNeese has a senior class to help lead the way.

A sense of calm and direction has replaced the chaos of the previous seven or eight preseason camps.

“I am very excited about this team and where we are at,” Goff said. “I love the chip on their shoulders. I want to keep it right there.”

That goes for his coaches as well, all of whom understand what is at stake this season and how important it is to move past last year. Some have admitted not only was it tough to go through, but embarrassing as well.

“We know where we are at, we know the expectations here and we are excited to get out there and get to work,” Goff said.

That means burying the past and not worrying about the future.

Winning now will take care of both those, only winning and time.

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Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers McNeese State athletics for the American Press. Email him at jimgazzolo@yahoo.com