Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Related News

ULM Baseball Backgrounds Led to Hall of Fame Coaching Careers

ULM Baseball Backgrounds Led to Hall of Fame Coaching Careers

Baseball Jan 31
By Paul Letlow, ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist
 
MONROE, La. – Jeff Schexnaider and David Moreau shared a common bond as they were inducted into the Louisiana Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame earlier this month. 

Schexnaider, who found success as head coach at West Monroe High School and ULM, and David Moreau, athletics director and former baseball coach at Jesuit High School, are both ULM baseball players who played for Lou St. Amant.

"We talked about playing for Coach St. Amant and we've known each other and competed against each other for several years," said Schexnaider, who led ULM with a .342 batting average in 1986. "He's one of the best high school coaches ever. It was good to have a ULM alumni there and Coach St. Amant coached both of us." 
 
St. Amant, an L Club Hall of Famer, had a hand in steering both players toward their successful careers with his personal coaching style 

"The biggest thing I got from Coach St. Amant was how he treated his players," Schexnaider said. "Whether you were a starter, whether you quit, whatever, he always took care of his players on and off the field. He was like a father figure to all of them." 

Moreau offered similar thoughts on St. Amant's influence.  

"I was grateful for the opportunity to play college baseball and play for such a fine man as Coach St. Amant," Moreau said. "The one thing I always felt about him is he had tremendous care for the guys on the team. He certainly wanted us to graduate and pushed us toward that. He wanted us to be loyal to the university and have a fondness for the university and a fondness for each other." 

Schexnaider and Moreau were part of a 2019 Hall of Fame Class that also included Wilbert Ellis (Grambling), Ron Maestri (UNO), Ronnie Coker (Shreveport's Parkway and Captain Shreve High) and Reginald Lambright (Pitkin). The induction took place Jan. 12 in Baton Rouge. 
 
"It was a great class and humbling to be sitting up there with those guys," Schexnaider said. 

Beyond their ULM connection, Schexnaider and Moreau faced each other three times in the high school playoffs. 

"We've become acquaintances and friends through the game and through Coach St. Amant over the year," Moreau said. "We have so many common bonds in that area."

While Moreau and Schexnaider took some of their cues from St. Amant, they also left strong impressions along the way. As their paths crossed within the ULM baseball program years ago, interim athletics director Scott McDonald could see the leadership potential in both men. McDonald was a freshman baseball player when Moreau was a senior and a graduate assistant two years later when Schexnaider arrived.  

"A lot of the things I learned as a freshman came from David Moreau, who didn't play a lot his senior year but was like a coach on the bench," McDonald said. "He was a mentor to a lot of us younger players. You could tell right away that he was going to be a tremendous coach.

"Not only was (Schexnaider) a great player but a great leader on that baseball team before he even got into coaching," McDonald said. "You could see that."

Schexnaider won championships at ULM and West Monroe High School. In nine seasons at his alma mater, Schexnaider led ULM to a pair of Sun Belt Conference titles and the program's last NCAA Regional appearance in 2012.

West Monroe captured the 1999 Class 5A state championship under Schexnaider's direction. He is the only coach to win a Sun Belt Conference Championship and a Louisiana state championship.

After playing for ULM from 1978-81, Moreau served 22 years as head coach at Jesuit High School, where he now serves as athletics director.  

At the New Orleans high school, he won three state championships (1985, 1994 and 2002) and nine district championships (1985, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2005). Some of his former Jesuit players eventually played at ULM too, including Mickey Parenton and Stanley Wiltz.

"The thing about Lou St. Amant is that he's so proud of all his players," McDonald said. "He really takes ownership in all of our careers. Anytime you talk to him, he wants to tell about this one, that one or the other one and how well they're doing. He really keeps up with all of this so I know for him, this is a tremendous source of pride."
 
Print Friendly Version