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Fobbs Back on Familiar Turf Coaching at ULM

Fobbs Back on Familiar Turf Coaching at ULM

Football Mar 16
By ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist Paul Letlow

Landing a job at ULM this year brought Broderick Fobbs full circle. The first-year ULM running backs coach and former head coach at Grambling State holds fond memories of Malone Stadium. He vividly recalls riding a bicycle from the nearby Cypress Point subdivision to campus, where he'd hang out with his father Lee Fobbs, an assistant coach under Dave Roberts in the early 1990s. "Sometimes, I come out on this field and think about the things we used to do – running up the ramps and things of that nature as kids." Fobbs said after a recent ULM spring football practice. "But then also when I was in high school, I spent a lot of time with Barry Rubin, who was the strength coach at the time. I'd lift with Roosevelt Potts and Greg Robinson and all those guys.

"So, when I went back to my high school, I felt like I was a king and nobody could stop me. I was working out with the best running backs in the country in my opinion. It was a good time for me. Barry showed me how to work, and those guys, like Potts and Robinson, showed me how to work as well." Hard work paid off handsomely for Fobbs. After a standout career at Carroll High School, he played running back for legendary Grambling State head coach Eddie Robinson. Fobbs served as a two-time team captain for the Tigers, who won the 1992 HBCU National Championship by defeating Florida A&M, 45-15, in the Heritage Bowl. Following in his father's tracks, coaching came next. Starting as a graduate assistant at Louisiana Lafayette, Fobbs worked his way up the coaching ranks with stops at Northwestern State, McNeese State, Southern Miss, and McNeese again before being named Grambling's head coach in 2014. In eight seasons at Grambling, Fobbs was a three-time SWAC Coach of the Year, led the Tigers to a 54-32 overall record, including two SWAC Championships, two Celebration Bowl appearances and a Black college football National Championship. But after starting 3-7 in 2021, Grambling let him go before the Bayou Classic. With an opening to fill this offseason (Tony Hull left to become Grambling's offensive coordinator), ULM reached out to Fobbs, who spent last football season coaching at Ruston High School. "I received a phone call from the director of football operations Pat McGee," Fobbs said. "Pat asked me if me if I'd be interested. I said, 'Pat, are you crazy? Of course I'd be interested.'

"I'm from Monroe and love this area. I grew up maybe three or four blocks from here. It's really good to be here and be around family. My kids get to see their grandparents. It's just awesome." A long-time fan of the Bowden coaching family, Fobbs met ULM's Terry Bowden for the first time at a local convenience store. "I was going to an all-white party and he was leaving a camp," Fobbs said. "I was dressed up and he had sweat coming from everywhere. I've always admired the family and met his dad a long time ago when I first got into coaching. He gave me some really, really good advice. The way he treated me and the way Coach treats us, it's like they're not celebrities." Coaching at Ruston the same year his daughter started high school there, and being part of a team that reached the state championship game, rejuvenated Fobbs. His current ULM players appreciate all that he brings to the program. "He's awesome," ULM running back Isaiah Woullard said. "He's hard on us and gets the most out of us." Bowden enjoys having another experienced coach on his ULM staff too. "He's an outstanding coach," Bowden said. "He's got a great demeanor, and he brings a great deal of maturity and experience. But he also still has a nasty streak, and he coaches hard. He's got a great rapport with the players and he was a running back at Grambling for Coach Robinson, which is an unbelievable thing. He's a local guy and like (new special teams coordinator) Jason Rollins, who was at Southern and Tulane, he brings Louisiana blood here. They know their recruiting areas, they love being in the area and it's just been a big, big plus.

"I've lost some mighty fine coaches, but every time we've lost one, we find one better."
 
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