Hanging it up

ERATH -- Sometime after 9 p.m. Friday night, after all the players from both teams have had their traditional post-game handshake and after he has addressed his team, one could forgive Erath coach Jacob Byler if he lingers on the field for just a moment longer before stepping off for the last time.

The longtime EHS football coach will have coached his last game. He’s hanging up the whistle after 22 years at the Vermilion Parish school.

“It will probably be a funny feeling but it’s something that I have been preparing myself for so it won’t be that bad,” said Byler about Friday’s game when Erath travels to Berwick to close out the regular season.

To finally hang it up after all these years was a decision that Byler took seriously when the idea first came to him.

“There’s a saying that you know when it’s time to get out,” said Byler. “And that’s pretty much how I feel right now.”

Physical problems, from back pains to knee pains, have affected him over the past several season, but those really didn’t play a role in the decision to retire, he said.

“I don’t think so,” said Byler. “In fact, it probably made me want to come back more than made me want to make the decision to retire. I just think it’s time to move on.”

Since he took control of the Erath program in January of 1987 after being released from St. Thomas More, Byler has been a fixture on the Erath sidelines and has led a resurgence of football for the Bobcats.

His EHS teams won one district title, finished as runner-up several times, had a run of nine playoff appearances in 10 years, and only a couple of years ago, he led Erath to back-to-back appearances in the second round of the playoffs, both times losing heartbreaking last-second decisions, first to West St. Mary and then to Teurlings Catholic.

“I think that I remember the highs more than the lows,” said Byler. “I think that we’ve had more highs than lows. The program is in much, much better shape than when I first got here.

“When I first got here we probably had in the neighborhood of 30-31 kids, maybe 35. Now we have 82 kids and it’s been pretty consistent. We’ve been growing.

“We had a run of nine out of 10 years in the playoffs, we had another little run in the 1990s. There are a lot of good memories of the kids that played for us and the school itself.”

Byler has also had a number of top-flight players pass through the program, including in recent years, current McNeese State University starting quarterback Derrick Fourroux and his younger brother Zachary, who is also on the team at McNeese.

“That definitely is on my mind,” said Byler, who has a career record of 139-138 heading into Friday night’s finale. “It’s a pleasure to have kids who have the opportunity to go on to get a college degree and play football and represent us and do a great job doing it.

“That’s the best part for us, but more important than that, it’s the camaraderie we’ve had with our kids. Hopefully, we’ve taught them some life lessons and how to be young men and how to grow up as young men.

“Hopefully we’ve done the right thing by them in that respect.”

Byler said that retirement will give him time to go fishing, play a little golf and finally catch up on the chores around the house that he has been neglecting for the past couple of years.

But don’t expect Byler to fade away. If son Tommy is chosen as the new head football coach in Erath, Byler will more than likely pick up his whistle and help his son out.

For now, Byler will probably avoid being bored in retirement by looking for a job that he can do for two to three days a week, just to stay busy.

“When I got here, really and truly I had no idea that I would be at Erath this long,” said Byler. “But as each passing year went the success got better and the program got bigger. It was fun. We had good kids and they earned the right to be a good football program.”