Guzzardo at home in new surroundings

 

Ayla Guzzardo is sitting on the couch in her new office, overlooking the practice court below. She looks at home.

The Cowgirls’ head coach has already taken over the program and made it her own. Like a bolt of lightning, Guzzardo flashes onto the scene with confidence and swagger. It almost reminds me of someone who just moved out of an office down the hall.

“I’m the Will Wade of women’s basketball,” said Guzzardo. She minces no words and holds nothing back. “You gotta be able to step on some toes. You gotta be able to understand it’s okay; I’m the bad guy. 

“I want to win, and I want to run this league.”

With that, a nearly hour-long conversation follows, and the two-time Southland Coach of the Year from Southeastern explains in simple terms why she left the league’s top program for one struggling to find itself.

“Look around this place,” says Guzzardo, pointing to the practice court outside her window. “We have everything here. We have the best facilities and the best fans. How could I not come here?”

She didn’t come alone. Guzzardo brought her entire coaching staff from SELA, as well as all nine players remaining on the roster. It was a bloodless women’s basketball revolution in the league. 

There are a few hurt feelings left behind in Hammond, perhaps.

“Yes, a few people might be upset with me down there, but as (McNeese A.D.) Heath Schroyer says every story needs a villain. I’m willing to play the villain.”

Play it? Guzzardo seems to thrive at it.

Truthfully, though, Guzzardo made the move for two simple reasons: career opportunities and family.

The single mother of three believes she’ll be able to spend more time in her most important role as mom with the support of McNeese’s administration than she could at her old school. Under Schroyer, McNeese coaches spend less time raising money than before his tenure and less time than most other SLC schools. 

That frees up time to be both a mom and a coach.

Second, with all the upgraded facilities, Guzzardo, whose team went 26-6, 19-1 to win the Southland’s regular season title, believes she can easily move to the next level from McNeese, if not help take the entire department to a new league.

“This place, this situation, it has everything,” says Guzzardo. “When you put it all together and add everything up, the decision to come here is a no-brainer.” 

If there was any doubt in her mind, it ended when Southeastern played in the Southland Conference Tournament this year. Guzzardo and her club, as the top seed, used the McNeese locker room and saw all of the perks up close. 

“I was in the locker room and said, ‘I can see myself very happy here.'”

For Schroyer, the decision to pursue her after he decided not to renew Lynn Kennedy after four seasons was also a no-brainer.

“She was my No. 1 target,” says Schroyer. “Watching her over the last four years, then getting a chance to sit down and talk to her, she’s a winner. She will excel here and elevate our women’s program to an entirely new level.

“Her teams play hard, are physical, and have a way of making things happen. Our fans are going to love her and her players.”

Still, it all comes down to winning. That’s why Guzzardo is here. 

“We expected to win at Southeastern, no matter what,” says Guzzardo. “That doesn’t change here. For us, it’s championship or bust. That’s how we think. 

“And we are going to win here. McNeese was just at the bottom of the league because it wasn’t winning; everything else around here is at the top of the league. The rest of the league is envious of what we have.”

Guzzardo said she doesn’t feel like she has to beg to get things for her program now, like she did at Southeastern. She feels that women’s basketball is a higher priority; all she has to do is ask, and help will come.

“Everything this school has that my last school didn’t is what I needed,” Guzzardo says. “I need more support and visibility from the administration. It’s not that my last administration was bad, but I just want more. I want the resources. I was tired of fighting and complaining.”

Guzzardo turns back toward the practice courts before adding, “And things look pretty good from here.”

During the hour, Guzzardo shows why she appears to be the right person to rebuild McNeese. It’s enough to make you think you’re listening to the female version of Will Wade.

If so, we can only imagine the ride ahead.

“Oh, you’re going to have fun covering me,” Guzzardo says.

Here we go again.