A quick glance around the gym Tuesday night at Ascension Catholic is all it took to realize how much support and respect Lowell Narcisse has garnered already at such a young age.
There were former coaches, former teammates, and maybe most importantly his new football family.
Parents, players, and assistant coaches came out in force to greet their new head football coach at the Ascension Catholic parent football meeting.
“I don’t think it’s actually hit me yet, just being in this opportunity at this age at this time,” said Narcisse.
A whirlwind process brought Narcisse back home to Louisiana at first as the Offensive Coordinator at East Ascension, then just months later he accepted the role as Head Coach at Ascension Catholic.
The 25-year-old has already experienced his share of heartache.
On the field the former 4-star quarterback at St. James suffered a pair of torn ACL injuries in his last two years of high school, then later in college at UTSA he broke his ankle.
Off the field, it was worse.
In high school his father died. In college, his mother passed as well as several other family members including grandparents.
“The process that I’ve been through as far as the injuries, the curve balls life has been throwing me, and now to be in this situation it’s just a blessing in disguise,” said Narcisse. “Hopefully I can take all of those things from my life experiences and my playing career to help me have a lot of success to start my early coaching career. I’ve been under multiple head coaches and had a lot of success with Coach (Ed Orgeron), Dwain Jenkins, my mentor is here Robert Valdez. Just being able to lean on those guys about some of the things that I don’t know that I want to continue to learn,”
“I just had to come and show support,” said Valdez. “I just want to be a resource to him. I’m proud of him and I think this a great opportunity. Ascension Catholic got a great young man with a lot of character and I look for good things to come of it. The beautiful thing about Lowell, he basically knows how to communicate across the board with just about anybody. He has a very very mild mannered personality but also attention to detail. He’s a very focused young man whose just driven. (Lowell’s) mature beyond his age.”
A former teammate at St James, Demarcus Williams who is currently an assistant coach for the Wildcats had a front row view for much of the adversity that Narcisse experienced.
“Lowell has been through so many obstacles and I think from that aspect he can teach so many young men about so many things in life,” said Williams. “In this coaching world it’s not so much about what you know it’s about building young men and I think he can build a lot of great young men over here. The biggest thing I learned from Lowell is just responding to adversity. It doesn’t matter what goes on it’s how to respond to it.”
Narcisse brings with him two years of experience as an offensive coordinator in Columbus, Texas, where his team won a lot and scored a lot. A combined record of 24-3 at Columbus High where his team made it all the way to the state semifinals.
At Ascension Catholic, the Bulldogs return one of the top running backs in the state in Chad Elzy who scored nine touchdowns in one game last year.
“We have a lot of good pieces a lot of young guys that can really run,” said Narcisse. “Obviously I have one of the best backs in the state (Elzy) I have a senior quarterback (Camille LeBoeuf) that’s a really good decision maker. I’m not going to say that we’re going to be a spread or will be multiple just whatever fits for our personalities and what we do best and hopefully we’ll come out and do what’s best.”
It’s safe to say, the players at Ascension Catholic like what they’re seeing from their new head coach.
“Coach Narcisse came in and his presence was felt when he walked in,” said Elzy. “He takes his time with things and makes sure we know everything before he moves on. He has high experience that plays a good part, he knows how to handle kids well and he knows what it takes and I think that’s going to be a good part of our football team. It’s not just that he’s a great coach but he’s a great man. He has Jesus in his life as well so he’s a great role model to our football team and for our school and I think he’ll fit well.”
“His work ethic has stood out,” said LeBoeuf. “He’s just very helpful. He really cares about his players, definitely cares about his offensive guys and his quarterback. He wants us to learn his system and have a successful season.”
And the high praise for their new head coach wasn’t limited to the offensive side of the ball.
“I like him. I like his game plan,” said senior middle linebacker Mace Melancon. “I like his philosophy, I like how he carries himself. I think he’s very formal he’s very good for the team. He pushes us. He doesn’t count anyone out. He pushes everyone the same, there’s nobody better than the other. Nobody gets treated different we’re all equally treated.”
During the meeting Narcisse went over his coaching background, his core values, academic expectations, and then important dates.
The one that stood out was July 29 which marks the beginning of fall camp.
That’s just two days after Narcisse turns 26-years-old.