For the fifth time in less than a decade, McNeese State is looking for a new head football coach.

With more money to spend, and much more money at stake, this is — again — likely the most important hire in McNeese athletics history. Athletic Director Heath Schroyer is under the gun to find the right guy to rebuild the Cowboys.

It has been 22 years since McNeese won a playoff game and since 2019 it had a winning campaign. While Schroyer said it will be a national search, it will likely have some area ties.

Here is a quick look at five early candidates with ties to the program.

Slade Nagle

A former Cowboys quarterback played three seasons during the turn of the century after one year at Clemson.

From 2012-15 he coached running backs and special teams as part of a 21-year career on the sideline. Nagle spent eight seasons at Tulane where he moved up to the offensive coordinator spot.

Last December he served as Tulane’s interim head coach for the Military Bowl, a 41-20 loss to Virginia Tech. Nagle is the special teams and tight ends coach at LSU.

Kerry Joseph

Nothing would please McNeese fans more than bringing back arguably the biggest name in recent program history.

Joseph quarterbacked the Cowboys to a 42–11 record and two Southland Conference titles as a four-year starter from New Iberia. As a pro he played in the NFL, NFL Europe and CFL, winning a Grey Cup title with Saskatchewan in 2007. He was voted the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player.

After his playing days, he began to coach and was twice at McNeese, finishing in 2018 as the offensive coordinator and eventually the interim head coach for a brief time.

He currently serves as the Chicago Bears quarterbacks coach.

Tim Leger

He was a four-year letterwinner from 1995-98 at McNeese, earning all-SLC honors at quarterback in 1996. He helped lead the Cowboys to the Division I-AA national title game (now Football Championship Subdivision) in 1997.

Currently offensive coordinator and head recruiter for Louisiana-Lafayette, Leger spent nine seasons working on the McNeese staff from 2007-2015. He was promoted to offensive coordinator.

In 2015 the Cowboys offense averaged just under 400 yards per game while scoring 30.2 points per game as seven offensive players earned all-SLC honors and three earned all-Louisiana honors that season.

Leger followed Matt Viator to Louisiana-Monroe in 2015 to head the offense. Leger finished second to Lance Guidry to replace Viator as the top Cowboy after Viator’s departure.

Eman Naghavi

The current offensive line coach at the University of Houston played four seasons at McNeese from 2005-08. He also coached the Cowboys twice for four seasons, leaving for ULM.

With 14 years of coaching experience, Naghavi has spent time on staff at Texas, Tulane and Georgia State.

He has spent most of that time coaching the offensive line but did serve time at Houston as offensive coordinator.

Matt Viator

This is likely the longest of long shots, but why not throw his hat in the ring?

Viator coached 10 seasons at McNeese, winning five Southland titles before moving to ULM after the 2015 season.

All of the other names above have some tie to Viator who is well regarded in Southwest Louisiana.

While he may not be the guy, his voice may be heard in the process if Schroyer would like to listen.