By Malcolm Butler
Jerrod Baugh doesn’t shy away from the truth.
And his coaching success story is one anchored in plenty of truths, some not so pleasant to remember.
The Ruston High head football coach has truly traveled on a road to redemption over the past decade, overcoming a highly publicized mistake to reach the pinnacle of his profession on the high school level in the state of Louisiana.
But it hasn’t always been easy.
His nightmare turned dream-come-true journey culminated earlier this month in New Orleans. Baugh stood on the field at Caesar’s Superdome, surrounded by a group of fiercely loyal football players hoisting a state championship trophy, while thousands of Bearcat supporters celebrated the school’s first title in more than three decades.
It’s a scene Baugh wouldn’t have allowed himself to even dream about 10 years ago. And understandably so.
January 13, 2014, is a date Baugh would like to forget. Yet, one that led him to where he is today. It was the starting point down a road to redemption for the 46-year-old Ruston coach.
Having just completed his fourth season as the Gladewater (Texas) High athletics director and head football coach, Baugh was discovered asleep at the wheel in his truck in the drive-thru of a McDonald’s at 3 a.m.
He was arrested for driving while intoxicated. It was his third such offense, also receiving one in high school more than 20 years earlier and one in college. Thus, the third offense based on the laws in the state of Texas was considered a third-degree felony (in Louisiana, the first two would have already been expunged from his record).
The incident and the dominoes that soon followed led to Gladewater dismissing him. And even worse, Baugh faced the real possibility of losing his teaching certificate and ultimately his dream of coaching football as a career — or at least having to sit out at least five years.
So, it’s understandable why Baugh was a little teary-eyed when his mother, Nova, hugged him on the Superdome field following Ruston’s state championship win over Zachary a few weeks ago.
“That kind of got to me,” Baugh told reporters in the post-game press conference. “I was holding it together, but seeing her and knowing personally some of the things I’ve gone through … It has been 10 years since I thought I was going to have to get out of coaching. I made some mistakes, and it has been a long journey for me to get past those things and to make my way back.”
A journey down a road full of potholes, speed bumps and detours along the way.
But make his way back, Baugh did. And in championship style.
The Yahoo.com story about his arrest back in 2014 is still viewable. There is no hiding from that night and to Baugh’s credit, he not only knows it, but he embraces it in a way that only someone who has lived it can.
“I haven’t always been an open person, but I guess when something like this happens and there are all these stories plastered all over the news … and it’s so readily available with social media,” said Baugh. “You can pull it up and look at it. I guess it made me realize there ain’t nothing to hide.”
He vividly remembers the doom-and-gloom-feeling the days following his arrest in Texas.
“I was quite certain that that mistake was the worst thing that had ever happened to me,” Baugh said in an hour-long interview three days after defeating Zachary in the state title game. “And now (I am) able to turn around and what I thought in the moment was the worst thing that I had ever personally gone through has been the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
It’s almost too hard to believe: a storybook ending to be honest.
“I can tell you there are a lot of stories,” said Baugh. “If you ever want to write a book, I can give you a book’s worth. It would be a good book. There are certainly a lot of things that have led to this, and it’s unbelievable that I have ended up where I have ended up.”
Baugh was coming off a 7-7 season with Gladewater. The team had won three playoff games before falling in the Texas Class 3A Division II Quarterfinals to end the year. He landed the Gladewater job at 32-years of age after spending 11 years as an assistant at Ouachita High School and Longview (Texas) High School.
He was considered one of the young up and coming coaches in the high school ranks.
However, his fall from grace was swift. And Baugh said he remembers the fear of what the arrest could mean for the future of his coaching career.
“The kids (at Gladewater) were asking when I was going to come back,” said Baugh. “Then I found out they were going to take my teaching certificate. I was going to be put on probation for like five years. You can’t get your certificate back (in Texas) for that period of time. So, I knew I was going to be out for at least five years.”
Administrative leave and then dismissal by the school soon followed. Baugh was without a coaching job for the first time in his adult life.
He moved back to Louisiana to live with his brother, Duston, and his family. He took a job as a cabinet estimator, a far cry from his passion of coaching.
“When he took that cabinet making job, I remember him saying it was the first time he felt like he had a job he had to go to,” said Duston. “Before he said he never felt like he had a job because coaching was what he loved to do.
“He never really did change looking from the outside. But you could tell he was dealing with it, but he never talked about it.”
Baugh, who grew up in Hoghair – a community outside of Luna in north Louisiana – and who played football and basketball at West Ouachita High School before graduating in three years from ULM, was forced to change paths.
“I got stuck in a room with a computer, all day every day,” Baugh remembered. “I was miserable. The guy was good to me, and I was going to make a lot of money. But I was still miserable.”
With the outlook bleak for coaching again anytime soon, Baugh received a phone call late in April of 2014 that proved to be the first step on the path back to the sideline. Dean Smith had just been hired at Wossman High School as the head football coach. He wanted Baugh to join his staff.
The timing was perfect for Baugh. In fact, better than perfect. It was almost too good to be true.
Baugh was looking at losing his teaching certificate. He knew that and had almost accepted it as reality. But the timing of joining Dean on the Wossman staff helped indirectly circumvent that crisis. So, when he got the call, he had a short answer for Smith.
“I said, ‘Hell yeah,’ I’d come,” said Baugh.
“I was grateful. They were the first ones willing to give me a chance and work through all that I had to work though. I was up front with them on what all I was going to have to do.”
Because his court date in Texas had not arrived and thus Baugh had not been convicted yet, he was able to go through the Louisiana school board to renew his Louisiana teaching certificate. Once that was completed, it would be three years before the state of Louisiana went back and reviewed it, buying Baugh some time to re-establish himself.
“I really kind of beat the system so-to-speak to be honest with you,” said Baugh. “They went back three years later which ended up being a little bit of an issue. I had to go down there to the (Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education).”
But with State Representative Chris Turner, Lincoln Parish School Board Superintendent Ricky Durrett and Ruston High Principal Dan Gressett by his side, Baugh was able to get approval from the BESE board to renew his teaching certificate.
“I had seen he impact he was having on those Ruston players,” said Turner. “It was an easy decision for me to help him. I knew the relationship he had with those kids and the good he was doing at Ruston High within that program.”
“That went very well that day,” recalled Durrett. “It was really pretty easy to get it renewed. We showed support and what (Jerrod) had done … the guy has never backed away from what he did. He owned up to it. Parents knew. Kids know. Everybody knew. He made a personal mistake.”
A mistake he would spend the next 10 years working tirelessly to overcome in different ways.
Baugh started coaching at Wossman in the summer of 2014. And as much as he enjoyed being back on the field and in the weight room with the Wildcat players and as much as he was grateful for the opportunity, the summer was far from easy for him. While he worked at the school during the week, he was forced to return to Texas on weekends to serve his court-determined penalty from his arrest.
“I was going (back to Texas) to serve some jail time in Longview,” said Baugh. “I had to drive over there, stay in jail for the weekend, and then come back and do summer workouts. There were a lot of things like that I had to do.”
It was a sobering experience and one that he remembers vividly.
“I’m sitting in jail and there are some kids that I have coached sitting in there,” said Baugh. “There are some parents of kids sitting in there with me. I lay in there and I had a lot of opportunities to think about it. How did I end up in this spot?”
This is when Baugh said he realized there was no hiding from his past. It was at this point of his journey he knew he would have to embrace it, especially with the young men he was coaching.
“When I got the job at Wossman, I am carrying kids home after practice or picking them up before practice and I’ve got one of those breathalyzer things in my truck,” Baugh said. “You got to kind of be open about it. Everybody’s got to know.”
The 2014 season came and went for Wossman (and Baugh). He coached. He continued to live with his brother. He said he didn’t take a single day for granted. His plan was to stay at Wossman. He had no intention of leaving.
But the coaching world is small. And coaching connections are strong. And Baugh’s phone rang one day as Ruston High head coach Brad Laird began the effort of convincing Baugh to become a Bearcat.
Laird and Baugh had coached together early in their respective careers at Ouachita High School before they both followed Pat Collins to Longview High School. The two coached one more year together before Laird followed his dad, Billy, to Nashville, Arkansas.
But the relationship between Laird and Baugh was born during that time. And with Laird in need of filling a position on his staff at Ruston, he turned to his old coaching friend. But not before talking it over with then-Ruston principal Ricky Durrett and Lincoln Parish School Board Superintendent Danny Bell.
“I was very transparent with Ricky (Durrett) and Mr. Milstead with Jerrod’s situation,” said Laird. “I wanted to make sure they knew. Number one, they knew the situation. Number two, they knew my relationship with Jerrod Baugh.
“I knew who Jerrod was as a person. I just know that if somebody held me to a standard that I can’t make a mistake, then I wouldn’t have the opportunity to work. The thing was understanding who Jerrod was as a person. That’s what I wanted them to know.”
After receiving the go-ahead to pursue Baugh for the coaching position, Laird began what turned out to be a challenging job of convincing him to come to Ruston. Baugh said it wasn’t a matter of not wanting to be a part of the Bearcats staff, but it was more of trying to not make waves.
“I told Brad no the first three or four times he called or text,” recalls Baugh. “Just because I didn’t know. I told him, ‘Look, that is going to end up being a problem for you. I don’t want to stir up any type of media deal.’
“I didn’t really know where I was at. I wasn’t trying to draw any attention or anything about my teaching certificate. I knew I just wanted to keep coaching.”
But Laird wouldn’t accept the answer, at least not without a fight. He knew he wanted Baugh on his staff. So, after three or four failed attempts, Laird finally convinced Baugh to agree to a meeting with himself, his father Billy Laird and Durrett.
“He sure did. He told me no a number of times,” said Brad Laird. “The first no I was very surprised by. I knew what Ruston High School is about. I knew the opportunity. My initial thought was how could somebody tell Ruston High no? It happened again. It happened again. But I was persistent in convincing him to meet with us.”
The meeting paid dividends.
“We all talked,” said Baugh. “I got a good vibe from it and ended up changing my mind. They were very supportive of being willing to deal with whatever came with all of the stuff that I had been through.”
Little did anyone know at that time the decision would be program-changing for Ruston football.
After serving as an assistant coach for the Bearcats in 2015, Baugh was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2016. Ruston posted a 6-5 mark in 2015 before falling to Dutchtown 31-17 in the first round of the playoffs. Laird and Co. then recorded an 8-3 mark in 2016, losing 38-14 to East Ascension in the first round.
During those two years Baugh developed a reputation among the Ruston High family for his work ethic and love for the student athletes. He became ingrained in the community. Little did he know he was paving the foundation for his next opportunity.
Following the completion of the 2016 season Laird headed to the collegiate side of coaching when he accepted the head coaching job at Northwestern State in Natchitoches.
The door was open for the next Bearcat boss. It was an important hire.
Almost two decades removed from its last appearance in the Superdome and almost three decades from its most recent state title, Ruston fans still believed the program could return to its glory days under legendary coach Chick Childress.
Ruston had played second fiddle – as much of the state had – to District 2-5A foe West Monroe. The Rebels had appeared in 16 state title games and won eight state championships since the Bearcats 1990 state title win over Catholic-Baton Rouge. The Bearcats hadn’t beaten the Rebels on the gridiron since that memorable 1990 season.
“A couple of people told me at the time that the hire might define my principalship,” said Durrett, who was principal at RHS and was in charge of the decision.
“When Brad came in and told me he was leaving, I had a group of senior boys, junior boys … football players … come to me and ask if I had any control over this. Could I please let Jerrod Baugh be the next head coach. Then I had assistant coaches – and I won’t say all of them, but I do believe it was all of them – come to me and say if this is going to be your hire, we would like for it to be Jerrod Baugh.”
Internally within the program, there was tremendous support for Baugh despite the fact he had only been at the program for two years.
Current Ruston principal Dan Gressett, who worked with Baugh on the football coaching staff his first two years and who was transitioning to an assistant principal role in 2016, remembers going to Durrett and voicing his opinion.
“It was obvious to me from early on when Jerrod showed up,” said Gressett. “This guy is organized. He knows what he is doing. He coaches kids the right way. Kids gravitate toward him. Coaches gravitate toward him. Adults gravitate toward him.
“I didn’t know him from Adam. I didn’t know his backstory when he came. I didn’t care. He stood out as being a phenomenal coach and knowing how to deal with kids and knowing how to coach kids.”
Durrett said the decision was ultimately his after talking it over with Lincoln Parish School Board Superintendent Mike Milstead.
“I felt so good about Jerrod that I told Mr. Milstead that we didn’t need a committee,” said Durrett. “We had our guy. I talked to a few others who had applied, but we knew Jerrod was the one we wanted.
“I had talked to people from Longview and from Gladewater when we first hired him as an assistant, so I felt really good about (the decision to elevate him). I wasn’t sure how long we were going to be able to keep him because I know a lot of them wanted him back in Texas.”
It’s a decision that changed the trajectory of the Ruston football program. Baugh has not only won, but he has developed a system that starts at the fifth and sixth grade levels.
Similar to the condition of the path their head coach was traveling, the Bearcats began the challenging and sometimes bumpy road of moving deeper and deeper into the playoffs.
In Baugh’s first year at the helm, Ruston went 8-3 and lost 23-21 to Hahnville in the second round of the playoffs. The following four seasons saw Ruston advance to the state quarterfinals each season, losing to the likes of West Monroe (34-0 in 2018), Zachary (35-27 in 2019), and Destrehan (6-0 in 2020 and 24-19 in 2021).
However, the process of rebuilding was evident.
The stands at Hoss Garrett Stadium began to fill, slowly but surely. The businesses around the community became more invested with Ruston High signage appearing more consistently around downtown during playoff time.
Its three decade losing streak to West Monroe finally came to an end in the regular season finale in 2022. Another door kicked in.
And the Bearcats broke the quarterfinal’s jinx just a few weeks later, advancing to the Nonselect Division I state title game at the Superdome before falling 17-10 to Destrehan in a contest that wasn’t decided until the waning minutes.
The decision to give Baugh a chance was paying off.
“Jerrod always says someone took a chance on him, but I never felt like we were taking a chance,” said Gressett. “I knew back then that if we hired him, that was going to be the right move. I would say it has turned out well.”
Well, indeed.
When the clock at Caesar’s Superdome struck zeros a few weeks ago and the scoreboard read 31-17 Ruston over Zachary, the celebration on the Bearcat sideline and in the stands began.
And the Jerrod Baugh stock was at an all-time high.
“I stayed around after the state championship game and listened to (Jadon Mayfield and Josh Brantley) in the press conference,” said Durrett. “I think they talked about how important Coach Baugh was to them and how he believed in them. I think when you hear kids talk like that, that kind of sums it up. Jerrod is the right guy for our program.”
Baugh and the Bearcats had finally brought the state championship trophy back to Ruston for the first time since 1990. Emotions flowed during the trophy presentation.
Even the poker-faced Baugh couldn’t suppress a decade’s worth of ups and down from surfacing following the win over Zachary.
“(Ruston has) obviously been good for me,” said Baugh, who owns a 67-21 record in his seven years as head coach at Ruston. “You add up all of the ways I ended up being here, and I don’t know how it has added up to what it has added up to. And all the things that I have personally gone through to land where I have landed.
“You hear people say that, but whenever you actually experience that it really is unbelievable. There is really only one possible way that that has happened. I try to translate that into words, and it’s almost impossible.”
The tears welled up in the corner of his eyes as he hugged his mother on the field postgame did all the talking for Baugh.
And it’s understandable.
“I think he hit rock bottom in 2014,’ said Durrett. “But he owned up to his mistakes. I think that is what people can learn from. We are all going to mess up. But when he did, he owned it. He admitted it. He continued to work his butt off and believe in kids.
“When somebody comes as far as he has … to see him at his lowest point and then to see him and those kids celebrating like they were, it’s why you get into education. To see people grow and learn.”
And no one has grown more than the Bearcats Boss over the past 10 years.
“I never wanted to turn this into something for me, but it is still something for me,” said Baugh. “Hell, I’m involved. And it is personal for me. On January 13, I will be 10 years removed from (that mistake).”
One that he didn’t let define him.
