Louisiana head coach praises Billy Napier for his impact on him

Before Michael Desormeaux succeeded Billy Napier at Louisiana, he spent four years on his UL staff. But their time together, and Desormeaux’s ascension at his alma mater, almost didn’t happen.

Desormeaux, a star quarterback for the Ragin’ Cajuns and the 2008 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year, had completed his second year as an assistant coach with Louisiana when Napier was hired. Desormeaux planned to move on with his career, but Napier talked him into staying.

“I haven’t really said this a whole lot, but I was going to get out of college coaching when he got the job. I was going back to high school. And after the first conversation I had with him, he asked me to stay,” Desormeaux told Jamarcus Fitzpatrick at Sun Belt Media Days. “And he didn’t talk about football. He talked about my family and all kind of stuff. Just a really good conversation. I remember, I told (his wife) Lindsey, ‘If I don’t like this with this guy, then it’s not for me. But I gotta try this.’ He was so good to me the entire time.”

Desormeaux was retained by Napier and named assistant head coach and tight ends coach. His concerns about being an outsider on Napier’s staff were quickly quelled once they started working together.

“I was worried being the holdover, I was going to be seen that way. He leaned on me and asked me questions about the roster we had at the time and the city and all these different things. And he was really good to me. He was always willing to answer questions,” Desormeaux of Napier. “I think he’s a really, really good football coach, he’s very intelligent, but he’s a great person. I got to see first-hand that you can run a college football program and still treat people the right way, still do things the way it’s supposed to be done.”

After winning four straight Sun Belt West Division titles (2018–21) and the program’s first outright Sun Belt Championship in 2021 with Napier, Desormeaux was hired to replace him after he left for Florida.

Both coaches had their best seasons in 2024. While Napier’s Gators closed out the year with a four-game winning streak and bowl victory, Desormeaux led the Ragin’ Cajuns a 10-4 record last season and was named the Sun Belt Conference and Louisiana Sportswriters Association Coach of the Year in 2024.

Napier was pulling for his former team from afar, and he notes that if starting quarterback Chandler Fields doesn’t get injured in the Sun Belt championship game, Louisiana could have won the conference title.

“I was extremely proud of Mike and his staff and the team, the administration, that community as a whole,” Napier said at SEC Media Days. “And you knew in the transition; they lost a lot of really good players. But you knew they would reboot and evaluate, recruit and get that thing right back where it needs to be. And look, if they don’t have injuries at quarterback, they may be winning again.

“Mike is a phenomenal leader. He’s got a great heart, cares about young people. And he has a different level of passion and care for that institution and that community because he’s one of them. I think that’s what separates what’s happening there. He’ll continue to have success. He’s got a great administration and he’s a great group of coaches around him.”

Desormeaux was asked Tuesday about Napier’s comments and returned the praise.

“It means a lot. I hold him in really high esteem,” Desormeaux said of Napier. “A lot of coaches have impacted me and helped me, but none more than him. I’m grateful. It meant a whole lot for him to say those things because I think the world of him.”