In three years as the head football coach at Louisiana-Lafayette, Jerry Baldwin’s teams won six games. That total included three games last year, but it wasn’t enough to save Baldwin.

It was time for a change.

Baldwin’s replacement is former Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Rickey Bustle, a 48-year old Summerville, S.C., native who brings one of the top offensive minds in college football to Lafayette.

Bustle was introduced as the school’s new coach on Dec. 13 by Louisiana-Lafayette athletics director Nelson Schexnayder.

"We are extremely happy to have someone of Rickey’s enthusiasm and experience here," Schexnayder said. "He’s worked with some great football teams. I am deeply appreciative of the efforts of Dr. [Ray] Authement, which allowed us to hire a coach of Rickey’s background, qualifications and experience. The future of UL football is certainly a bright one."

For the last seven seasons (eight overall), Bustle has served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Virginia Tech. While in Blacksburg, Bustle developed some of the finest quarterbacks the college football world has seen in recent years, including NFL players Jim Druckenmiller and Michael Vick. Vick was the first pick in the 2001 NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons.

Bustle’s offenses put up some exciting numbers. The 1999 Hokies averaged a national-best 41.4 points per game, as Virginia Tech advanced to the national championship game. In Bustle’s first seven seasons as offensive coordinator, the Hokies fielded seven of the eight highest-scoring teams in school history. Most importantly, the team posted a 67-17 record and won three Big East Conference championships. The Hokies went to a bowl game every year he has served as the offensive coordinator.

Now Bustle can forget bowl games for a while and focus his attention on building a Louisiana-Lafayette football program that just completed its first season in the Sun Belt Conference. While the school has won just nine games in the last five years, Bustle knows that the new affiliation with the conference -- as well as the school’s commitment to a strong football program -- will reverse the program’s fortunes.

"This is just a great opportunity for a first-year head football coach," Bustle said. "I promised my wife that I wouldn’t just take any job just to be a head coach. This football program has a lot of promise, especially being in the Sun Belt Conference and having a bowl tie-in."

Returning at quarterback is junior Jon Van Cleave (6-5, 246), who led the Sun Belt with 298.5 yards passing in six conference games. His 12 touchdown passes ranked second in the conference.

Van Cleave shattered several Cajun records held by current New Orleans Saints’ quarterback Jake Delhomme. He finished the season with 1,499 yards passing and 14 touchdowns. His 407 attempts and 224 completions were both school records. His 55 percent completion percentage is the second highest in school history. Van Cleave is currently fourth in career attempts (539), completions (284), yards (3,186) and touchdowns (15).

Backing up Van Cleave will be sophomore Matt Lane (6-0, 191) and junior Eric Rekieta (6-2, 247).

In the spring game, Van Cleave completed 7-of-18 passes for 190 yards, no interception and one touchdown pass. During the situational work, he was 11-of-19 for 139 yards and three scores in skeleton drills.

"I think we’ve come a long way," Van Cleave told The Daily Advertiser. "It was rough early in the spring when everything was brand new and we were adjusting to the two-backs and two-receivers.

"It was a learning experience, but we’re going to be all right. It’s a lot easier when you’ve got six or seven people protecting instead of five, and this is a great receivers group. You put it up there and they’ll go get it."

The starter at tailback will be senior Jerome Coleman (6-1, 238), who missed some time last season with an injury. Still, he finished the season with 10 rushing touchdowns in 10 games.

Coleman also caught a touchdown pass last year. He finished the season with 625 yards rushing and scored four touchdowns against Idaho.

Backing up Coleman will be junior Dontrell Davis (5-6, 170).

In the spring game, Coleman rushed 18 times for 74 yards and an 18-yard touchdown run. He won the team’s "Champion" award during the spring for offensive production.

The fullbacks will be senior Blake Bourque (6-1, 238) and red-shirt sophomore Elliot Temple (6-0, 242).

"We’ve spent a lot of long hours installing the new offense," Bustle told The Daily Advertiser. "We had an installation plan, but after you start looking at things on film you never go as quickly as you want to. You can’t forget about making sure the fundamentals are there. We haven’t gotten in everything we wanted to, but I never thought we would."

Junior wide receiver Fred Stamps (6-0, 176) was pleased with the Ragin’ Cajun offense after spring drills. And with his new head coach.

"The rumor was out there [after Bustle was hired] that we were just going to run the ball all the time," Stamps told The Daily Advertiser. "I guess those rumors weren’t true."

Stamps caught five passes for 159 yards during the spring game and had a 61-yard scoring reception from Van Cleave that gave the Red team a 24-10 victory.

"Fred’s a big-play guy," Bustle told the newspaper. "He’s got to learn to really stay focused, but he didn’t give up on himself after he had a couple of drops today. The guys that can make the big plays, you want to keep giving them the opportunity."

Stamps will be backed up by sophomore B.J. Crist (6-1, 177). Opposite Stamps will be either senior Nick Dugas (5-11, 191) or senior Andre George (6-0, 198).

Last year, Dugas was selected to the All-Sun Belt second-team. He finished the season with the fourth best receiving season in school history (60 receptions) and led the Sun Belt in league games only with 46 receptions and 7.67 receptions per game. He was second in the league with 476 receiving yards and 79 receiving yards per game and broke current Baltimore Ravens’ wide receiver Brandon Stokley’s school record with 14 catches against Arkansas State. He enters the 2002 season ninth in school career receptions.

The starter at tight end will be junior Josh Joerg (6-4, 237), who won one of the two "Pride" awards given after spring drills. His backup will be sophomore Lawrence Johnson (6-5, 253).

The anchor of the line will be senior left tackle Jonathon Raush (6-7, 290), who was voted seccond-team all-conference last year. A three-year starter for the Cajuns who has not missed a single game, Raush and senior center Josh Newton (6-2, 266) will lead a young offensive line that returns five starters.

Raush won the "Iron Cajun" award in the spring for weight-room work after lifting a total of 1,265 pounds in the three required lifts.

Last year the offensive line allowed only six sacks in conference games, second fewest in the Sun Belt.

Newton will be pushed at center by junior Tony Hull (6-4, 282) and red-shirt sophomore Ronnie Harvey (6-0, 270).

Listed on the depth chart as the other starters are sophomore Greg Hodges (6-1, 305) at left guard, red-shirt freshman Corey Glover (6-3, 305) at right guard and sophomore Demetrious Brooks (6-3, 290) at right tackle.

Depth in the offensive line will come from junior Marques Smith (6-4, 330), junior D’Anthony Batiste (6-4, 295), red-shirt freshman Mike Moore (6-3, 334) and red-shirt freshman Kerone Dixoin (6-3, 266).

Senior Jonathon Knott (6-1, 210) returns as the place-kicker. He made 10-of-15 field-goal attempts last year, with a long of 48.

In 2000, the Cajuns made only 3-of-8 field-goal kicks, with a long of 27.

Backing up Knott will be red-shirt freshman Lucas Murphy (5-10, 192).

The key player in the defensive line is senior nose guard Walter Sampson (6-3, 281), an outstanding player who has been plagued with injuries the last two seasons.

His eight tackles for loss covered 34 yards last season and he has 23 tackles for a loss of 112 yards over the last three seasons.

The starter at right end will be junior Antonio Floyd (6-1, 237), who along with Sampson brings a wealth of experience to the line.

The starter at the other tackle will be senior Charley Smith (6-4, 273), who won the "Pride" award on defense during the spring. The other starter will be senior Justin Venable (6-0, 235) at end.

The backups in the line will be sophomore Gary Rudick (6-1, 226), sophomore Justin Taylor (6-2, 268), junior Daniel Taylor (6-2, 266) and red-shirt freshman Eugene Kwarteng (6-4, 231).

The headliners at linebacker are seniors Marrious Berry (5-10, 238) and Ross Brupbacher (6-1, 233).

Berry recovered from two fractured legs before last last spring and finished second on the team in 2001 with 44 solo tackles and nine tackles for loss. He has started 21 consecutive games for the Cajuns.

In the spring game, Berry had a fumble recovery as the No. 1 defense set the tone.

"We told the defense they had to go out and stop them [the offense]," Bustle said. "We had a lot of people that stepped up out there and played well."

Brupbacher was voted second-team all-conference last season. His 42 tackles ranked sixth among Sun Belt Conference linebackers. He led the Cajuns with two forced fumbles, 50 solo tackles and 12 tackles for loss. He was voted the team’s most improved linebacker each of the last two seasons.

Sophomore Stanley Smith (6-1, 234) will push Berry for playing time, while junior Dallas Charles (6-0, 230) will back up Brupbacher.

The outside linebackers will be red-shirt junior Jamall Sanders (5-9, 200) and junior Jamal Smith (5-9, 200).

Senior Ricky Calais (5-10, 219) will look to reclaim a starting position after suffering a torn ACL in the Cajuns’ fourth game last season. Also in the picture at linebacker is junior Stephen Archangel (6-0, 194).

The Cajuns will miss free safety Kyries Hebert and cornerback Brad Franklin, who both have a chance to play in the NFL.

Left cornerback Charles Tillman (6-2, 192), a senior, was voted the "Top Gun" award as the most productive defensive player during spring drills. He had an interception in the spring game that set up a field goal.

Tillman was voted first-team all-conference last year and is expected to be the leader on the defense that lost five starters. He led the Cajuns with four interceptions, giving him 10 in the last two seasons. He has been the Cajuns’ best defensive player for the last two seasons and was voted to the 2000 Football News All-Independent team and All-Louisiana first team. He is sixth all-time in school history in tackles by a defensive back.

Tillman’s backup will be senior Atiba Dauzart (5-7, 157).

The starter at the other cornerback will be senior Ivan Taylor (6-1, 193), who will be backed up by senior Carlos Hicks (5-11, 188).

Senior Brian Deamer (6-2, 201) will start at free safety. Junior Patrick Lamy (5-10, 185) will compete for playing time.

Knott handled the punting and place kicking last year, but he will be challenged this year by junior Grant Autrey (6-2, 192), the Cajuns’ 1999 and 2000 punter, and red-shirt freshman Lucas Murphy (5-10, 192).

Louisiana-Lafayette struggled on kickoff returns last year, finishing with an average of 16.1 -- last in the Sun Belt.

Gone is Marcu Wilridge, who averaged 22.8 yards on 21 returns last year. Six other players combined to average only 14 yards per return on 27 returns.

Dugas and Stamps will handle the punt returns this season with Taylor and Stamps returning kickoffs.

Junior Eric Bartel (5-8, 170) will be the holder, and the snapper will be senior William Delahoussaye (6-2, 250).

Bustle and his staff signed 13 high school players and one junior college transfer.

"I’m very excited about the recruiting class that we have," Bustle said. "Coming in as late as we did, my staff and I pinpointed the student-athletes that we needed to get in here. I thought the staff did a great job getting commitments in the places we wanted them."

The Cajuns signed close to home with Lafayette quarterback Jerry Babb (6-3, 205) from St. Thomas More High School, while grabbing three prospects as far away as the greater Dallas area.

Babb scored 18 combined touchdowns his senior season. He threw for 537 yards, ran for 537 and caught 15 passes for 354 yards.

A good running back prospect is Ross Rix (5-9, 185) from Christian Life Academy in Baton Rouge. He helped his team to an 8-4 record and finished the season with 1,100 yards rushing.

"After meeting all the prospects and their families, I can honestly say that we are getting very classy young men who can play football," Bustle said. "We wanted people who can fit our offensive and defensive scheme, who have a desire to graduate and those who want to be a role model on and off the field. We acquired these players and filled the positions we needed."

Louisiana-Lafayette’s 12-game schedule marks only the second time the Cajuns have played a dozen regular season games. Lafayette finished 6-4-2 in 1977.

The Cajuns will start 2002 against a familiar foe in Texas A&M. Louisiana-Lafayette upset the nationally ranked Aggies on Sept. 14, 1996 before 38,783 at Cajun Field in Lafayette.

The season’s first home game will follow when Minnesota travels to Lafayette on Sept. 7 for the second Herbert Heymann Football Classic.

On Oct. 5, a bittersweet rivalry will be renewed when the Cajuns travel to Baton Rouge to face LSU. The teams have played 18 times, but the last time was in 1938.

Sun Belt Conference play begins on Oct. 12, when Lafayette visits New Mexico State.

"Our schedule allows for our players to gain national exposure and at the same time compete for a conference championship," Bustle said. "We look forward to the upcoming season, and a chance to play in the New Orleans Bowl."

Bustle’s goal is to spread the field and throw the football, have a 1,000-yard rusher and an attacking defense that swarms the ball and creates turnovers. He has 43 returning letter winners, including 19 starters, but those players were part of a team that won only three games.

Defensively, the Cajuns will switch from a 4–3 defense to an eight-man front.

The key for the Cajuns will be the intangibles. They ranked sixth in the conference with 50 penalties for a loss of 412 yards. UL-Lafayette also allowed 14 first downs via penalty.

It will be interesting to see how competitive the Ragin’ Cajuns will be under Bustle. Improvement is possible, but this program has a long way to go with only nine victories in the last five years.

"There’s no question we’ve made improvement," Bustle told The Daily Advertiser. "My goal is to evaluate the film from the spring and see how much we’ve made. I’ve asked the players to continually show up and play hard, because that’s the kind of effort we’re going to need every day."