Sometimes, the coaching carousel is almost formulaic.
Program struggles, coach exits after myriad factors thwart turnaround.
There is no routine, no precedent, for the situation at Northwestern State.
Thursday night, Northwestern State plays its first football game in 315 days – since the shooting death of former player Ronnie Caldwell and the decision to halt the season after a 37-20 loss to rival Southeastern Louisiana.
Blaine McCorkle, the first-year Demons head coach, embraces an opportunity to rebuild.
“Why do we coach? When I saw what happened in October, shutting down the season, for some reason I kind of felt like we could help these kids, help this place,” McCorkle tells FootballScoop. “It’s a real kind of call for me.
“I firmly believe coaching is not a job, it’s a calling. If God calls us and we are to do it for right reasons, why would everybody in the country not to want to coach at Northwestern State?”
McCorkle is fully aware the Demons enter this season without a win since Nov. 5, 2022, and losers in 21 of their past 28 games.
The son of veteran college coach Sam McCorkle and a former LSU player, he considers Louisiana his home.
The Natchitoches, Louisiana, community is eager to embrace and eager for a winner; McCorkle learns this within months of his new posting.
Charting the course, he also leans on a critical support system at home; his wife, Gina, is a former NCAA Division I field hockey coach at Richmond, among other spots.
Together, they seek to do something the Demons have not done in almost two decades – build a winner.
“The things people cared about the way people cared blew me away, and that’s exactly what drew me to it,” he says. “My wife was all in. When she was coaching at Richmond, she walked off the field seven times as conference champions.
“We’re a package deal with this. It’s neat to have a high-level coach you’re married to because you can go home and legit bounce things off of her.”
McCorkle specializes in turning around programs, including his final season at NCAA Division III program Belhaven last fall – an record-setting 9-2 campaign featuring a berth in the NCAA D3 Playoffs.
But he’s adamant he’s not protecting some secret formula. The success is in the work.
“The model is go to work one day at a time,” McCorkle tells FootballScoop in the middle of the team’s sweltering August camp. “Teach kids to believe in themselves. Everybody’s got a good scheme. We’re trying to build a really good locker room. I’m not a guru, I’m a football coach. We’re going to play good, fast, physical and sound fundamental football, and it works.
“I think we’ve got the third-longest losing season streak in the country (without a winning year since 2008), but the same time, this is a program that also has won 12 conference championships through the years. I think when we play Tulsa (to open this season), it will be 663 days since Northwestern State has won a football game.”
The Demons 107-man roster features 53 returning players and 54 newcomers.
Those who comprise that lineup, McCorkle believes, possess the character such an arduous rebuild mandates. He and his staff are seeking to augment that character with a variety of life-skills lessons through their ‘Man-Field Fridays’ program, featuring everything from interacting with local community leaders to working with a Navy SEAL.
“My first team meeting is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, because I was asking them to trust me because there’s no choice, I’m not going anywhere,” McCorkle, his work under Danny Rocco foundational for his program rebuilds, says. “We’re going to work on and build in the program every single day. I think there’s some days these kids might think coach doesn’t like me too much, but while it might be true in the moment, we do love them. We love them every day. Trust is a big piece.
“I think it was a lot of culture shock for a lot of guys when we did come in. That doesn’t mean ours is better but just different. We did have to shock the system. A lot of kids transferred out; there were 25-plus kids gone before we ever showed up. But I think those who stayed, stayed for the right reasons.”
There are transfers, of course, among the newcomers, but many of them – at least six – are returning to their native Louisiana to finish their collegiate careers. The freshmen class is 35 strong; foundation for the future.
McCorkle, with a staff featuring Norm Joseph as offensive coordinator and Matt Conner leading the defense, is assembling the foundation of this rebuild through an inside-out approach.
‘The Boot’ is the priority, period.
“In our eight months here, our staff have set foot in every single football-playing high school in the entire state of Louisiana,” McCorkle emphasizes. “We’ve touched every single one of them now, and we’re going to do it again every year. We’re going to butter our bread right here.
“And I think when people watch Northwestern State this season, we want them to see a team that’s really physical, tough, fast, sound. If do those four things, I think we can give ourselves a chance a win.”
In an unprecedented situation, McCorkle & Co. just might have the proper game plan.