By Malcolm Butler
For the past three years, Ben Haddox has spent his Friday nights talking about Cedar Creek football.
This fall, he will be back helping coach it.
The former Cedar Creek head football and baseball coach is returning to the Cougars sidelines on a volunteer basis to assist head coach Jacob Angevine and his staff, marking Haddox’s first venture back into high school coaching since leaving Cedar Creek in early 2021 while last roaming the sidelines in the fall of 2017.
Cedar Creek will host a jamboree tonight. The Cougars play a 15 minute quarter vs. Caldwell at 6 p.m. D’Arbonne Woods will then play a 15 minute quarter vs. Caldwell, followed by Creek’s 15 minute quarter vs. D’Arbonne Woods.
Haddox continues to co-own and operate National Jewelry in Ruston, the business he purchased more than five years ago.
For Haddox, the decision to return is about his longtime connection to Cedar Creek, his love of coaching and an opportunity involving his oldest son, Aiden.
“Cedar Creek is near and dear to me and always will be a massive part of my life,” Haddox said. “I loved my time up there, especially coaching. The opportunity to be around kids again — after stepping away for a few years — really reminded me how much I love coaching and being around young people.”
Haddox has never ventured far from the Cougars football program. He has served as the radio color analyst for Cedar Creek football broadcasts for the past three seasons.
But being back on the sidelines will be different.
Aiden is entering high school at Cedar Creek, providing his father with an opportunity Haddox saw other fathers enjoy during his days leading the Cougars program.
“Aiden, my oldest son, is entering high school, and it’s a chance to experience something I watched a lot of dads get to experience when I was head coach — guys like Duke Marcus, Wilton Wall, Gene Vandenlangenberg, and Corwyn Aldridge getting to coach their own kids,” Haddox said. “It was just too unique an opportunity to pass up.”
In some ways, the circumstances bring Haddox’s coaching journey full circle.
Haddox attended Cedar Creek from pre-K through high school and was a multisport athlete for the Cougars from 1997-2000, helping lead the baseball program to a state championship his senior year.
After graduating from Louisiana Tech, Haddox returned to Cedar Creek in 2005 and spent the next 16 years at his alma mater. During that time, he served 15 years as head baseball coach, eight as head football coach, 10 as athletics director and four as the Dean of Students.
Haddox won more than 300 games and a state championship as Cedar Creek’s baseball coach. He also won 63 games as head football coach and guided the Cougars to a pair of state semifinal appearances.
He left Cedar Creek in January 2021 after purchasing National Jewelry in Ruston from longtime owners Tommy and Kenny Phillips. At the time, Haddox said one of the biggest factors in his decision was the opportunity to spend more time with his wife, Larkin, and their children.
Five years later, family is playing a role in bringing him back to the sidelines, albeit in a much different capacity.
So is Angevine.
The relationship between the two goes back to Angevine’s arrival at Cedar Creek. Haddox was the person who originally hired him, and the two have remained close even after Haddox stepped away from coaching.
“Having Ben back is just awesome,” Angevine said. “He’s a guy that people at the Creek still love and respect, and he’s got a wealth of knowledge.
“Ben’s the guy that hired me, and he’s always been in my corner. Even with all the different coaches we’ve had over the last few years, he’s always been somebody I could reach out to not only as a coach, but as a mentor in life.”
Haddox has watched Angevine grow into the job and believes the Cougars have the right person leading the program.
“You talk about the kind of guy you want involved in a small private school — Jacob fits that mold in every way,” Haddox said. “He’s been a tremendous leader for our school these last couple of years.
“He has assembled an incredible staff. It’s a great mixture of some very established veteran coaches along with some young, up-and-coming coaches that are going to be a great asset. I am just lucky to be a small part of it and get an opportunity to share the sidelines with them and my son.”
Angevine and Haddox began discussing the possibility of a return in December without knowing exactly what Haddox’s role or time commitment might be.
“We started having conversations in December about him helping out,” Angevine said. “He didn’t know exactly what it was going to look like or how much time he could put into it, but having him back is really cool.”
Haddox will primarily work with Cedar Creek’s receivers while also assisting with the defensive backs.
But Angevine believes Haddox can provide something even more valuable — the perspective of someone who has already sat in the head coach’s chair at Cedar Creek.
“Some of the things he can help me with as a young coach are huge,” Angevine said. “I’m a control freak and a perfectionist, and I still felt like I tried to do too much last year. With the success he had as a head coach here, he can tell me, ‘Hey, if you worry about all of this stuff, you’re going to drive yourself crazy.’”
For the past three years, Haddox had one of the best seats in the house to watch — and talk — Cedar Creek football.
This fall, he will trade the radio booth for a spot on the sideline in a volunteer role to the school where he grew up and built his coaching career and where he now gets the opportunity to experience Friday nights alongside his oldest son.
For the latest local news, subscribe FOR FREE to the Lincoln Parish Journal and receive an email each weekday morning at 6:55 right to your inbox. Just CLICK HERE to sign up.
