Callais joins HCS staff; ready for first full season

Sometimes you can have your cake and eat it, too.

That’s exactly the situation for Chad Callais.

Just four months after resigning from his post as Central Lafourche’s head football coach in January because he wanted to spend more time with his family, Callais announced this week that he will join the coaching staff at Houma Christian.

While there, he will be able to coach his two sons who attend the school, giving the coach what he says is an ideal situation.

“It just worked out,” Callais said. “Now, not only am I going to be able to see my boys play, I’ll actually be able to coach them. It’s going to be something different, but this was just a great opportunity. I’ll be able to spend even more time with them now, every afternoon in the fall for football, hopefully not only coaching them, but having some more bonding time with them as well.”

Callais is no rookie to the coaching scene. The coach went 19-20 in four seasons with the Trojans, including a 7-3 campaign in 2009.

But the team the coach will be inheriting cannot say the same.

The Warriors played their first-ever season of 11-man football last year, posting a 2-2 record in a four-game junior varsity schedule.

This year will be the first season for the team in Class 1A.

“It’s really like starting from scratch,” Callais said. “In terms of, they never really had a full season, playing that JV schedule last year. But to be able to be a part of something where you’re building a program from the ground up, that’s pretty exciting.”

Callais added that he and the coaching staff’s primary job will be to remain patient and understand that there will be bumps in the road for the team as they try and catch up with programs that have 35-40 years experience.

“It’s going to be something different,” Callais said. “But throughout your coaching career, you always go through some difficult times. The biggest thing is learning to adjust from them. … In every coaching job you have, there’s going to be adversity. Here for some of the kids, this will be their first time that they’ve ever been in contact football. We’ll be teaching the basics, starting from getting into your stance to basic fundamentals. We’re going to be at the bottom, working our way up.”

But despite the program’s collective lack of experience, Callais said he believes the Warriors will have talent on their roster.

Houma Christian is coming off an athletic season where they won the district title in both basketball and baseball, signs the coach say show that athletes are walking the halls of the school.

He said he was able to attend three of the school’s four games last year and came away with the impression that there was plenty talent on the field.

“There’s definitely some kids out there that excel. Hopefully they can continue to excel,” Callais said. “But at Houma Christian, they have great athletes. They’ve done a great job building up their athletic program. We have some great kids here who just do a great job of competing. … We’ll have some guys who can play.”

Callais will not officially be labeled “head coach” at Houma Christian, because he will not work as a faculty member of the school.

The coach said he and the entire coaching staff will work together to achieve the common goal of success within the program.

“We’re all in this together,” he said.

He added that no official title or rank will be able to outweigh the joy that he will be able to feel spending more time with his family, while also being able to remain involved in football.

He’s having his cake and he’s eating it, too.

“It’s a best of both worlds situation,” Callais said. “I’m very excited about this opportunity.”