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Cody Futrell
Issue date: 3/17/06 Section: Sports
A team that started the season 0-15, the worst start in school history, has fought many obstacles from day one.
Despite holding the worst record since the 1978 squad started 0-14 under then coach Lou St. Amant, the restructured ULM coaching staff still believes the ship can be righted this season.
This past series was a fantastic start.
From a schedule designed to give them a chance to play the best, the Indians baseball team has found themselves struggling to beat the odds just as much as the opposing team.
"The schedule was designed to help us with our RPI ranking," interim head coach Jeff Schexnaider said. "We expected the record of the club to not be as good as last season."
The odds have never seemed to be in the Indians favor, picked to finish seventh by the Southland Conference head coaches during the pre-season,
ULM struggled to thirteen consecutive losses, prompting the resignation of fourth-year head coach Brad Holland.
Holland had been on the ULM staff for eight years, coming in as an assistant in 1998.
The team is now lead by interim head coach Jeff Schexnaider.
Schexnaider, a former Indian player from 1983-1985, is enjoying the experience as a college head coach after a very successful career as a high school coach, locally, at West Monroe High School.
"I would have liked to have gotten the job under different circumstances," Schexnaider said. "Every move I have ever made during my career was to get to this point here at ULM."
At West Monroe High School, Schexnaider recorded ten consecutive winning seasons, including a state championship in 1999.
Schexnaider clubs reached the Louisiana state semi-finals in class 5-A a total of four times.
Schexnaider came back to his alma mater, ULM, in the summer of 2004.
He served as Brad Holland's top assistant for one season before Holland's sudden, mid-season resignation.
The timing of the departure was a surprise for the ULM athletic department.
Even Holland's closest assistant did not expect the news to come so swiftly.
"Brad and I communicated throughout this season, and I expected him to leave at the end of the season," Schexnaider said. "But the timing of his decision, while very unselfish, was a shock."
The coaching staff contributes a lot of the success to the player's resilience and good team chemistry.
"I have been real pleased with the way the team has stuck together," he said. "A big strength of this baseball team is there believing in each other. Adversity is upon us."
Despite holding the worst record since the 1978 squad started 0-14 under then coach Lou St. Amant, the restructured ULM coaching staff still believes the ship can be righted this season.
This past series was a fantastic start.
From a schedule designed to give them a chance to play the best, the Indians baseball team has found themselves struggling to beat the odds just as much as the opposing team.
"The schedule was designed to help us with our RPI ranking," interim head coach Jeff Schexnaider said. "We expected the record of the club to not be as good as last season."
The odds have never seemed to be in the Indians favor, picked to finish seventh by the Southland Conference head coaches during the pre-season,
ULM struggled to thirteen consecutive losses, prompting the resignation of fourth-year head coach Brad Holland.
Holland had been on the ULM staff for eight years, coming in as an assistant in 1998.
The team is now lead by interim head coach Jeff Schexnaider.
Schexnaider, a former Indian player from 1983-1985, is enjoying the experience as a college head coach after a very successful career as a high school coach, locally, at West Monroe High School.
"I would have liked to have gotten the job under different circumstances," Schexnaider said. "Every move I have ever made during my career was to get to this point here at ULM."
At West Monroe High School, Schexnaider recorded ten consecutive winning seasons, including a state championship in 1999.
Schexnaider clubs reached the Louisiana state semi-finals in class 5-A a total of four times.
Schexnaider came back to his alma mater, ULM, in the summer of 2004.
He served as Brad Holland's top assistant for one season before Holland's sudden, mid-season resignation.
The timing of the departure was a surprise for the ULM athletic department.
Even Holland's closest assistant did not expect the news to come so swiftly.
"Brad and I communicated throughout this season, and I expected him to leave at the end of the season," Schexnaider said. "But the timing of his decision, while very unselfish, was a shock."
The coaching staff contributes a lot of the success to the player's resilience and good team chemistry.
"I have been real pleased with the way the team has stuck together," he said. "A big strength of this baseball team is there believing in each other. Adversity is upon us."