Paulk out as Sam Houston head coach
Warren Arceneaux
Chad Paulk, who led Sam Houston to consecutive 8-win football seasons, is no longer head coach at the school.
A job listing for the position was posted to the Calcasieu Parish School Board’s website Monday.
Paulk took over as head coach in 2017 after previously serving as an assistant coach at Barbe, where he was offensive coordinator before taking over the Broncos program. After a 4-6 debut season the Broncos went 8-3 in both 2018 and 2019 when the Broncos were 6-1 in District 3-5A play.
Sam Houston chose not to play this season due to damage from Hurricanes Laura and Delta.
Among the highlights of Paulk’s tenure was a dramatic 31-28 home win over Barbe on a last-second field goal by Davis Dow in 2019, the first-ever win over Barbe for the Broncos. Barbe had won the first 20 games in the series, which dates back to 1983.
Sam Houston won two of three games against west Calcasieu Parish rival Sulphur under Paulk.
Paulk departs with the highest winning percentage of any coach in Broncos history at 62.5, surpassing Nolan Viator’s 61.9 winning percentage from 1976-81.
The Broncos earned playoff berths in each of Paulk’s final two seasons, losing in the first round both times, first to Denham Springs then to Covington in 2019.
Sam Houston has had three winning seasons since moving up to Class 5A in 2011, Paulk’s final two seasons and a 6-5 season under Vaughn Eggleston in 2014.
American Press