The Nicholls State baseball team added two new members to its coaching staff in Gerald Cassard and Brett Stewart for the 2012-13 season.
Cassard, former head coach at Loyola University, will take over as Director of Operations for the team, while Stewart will work as a volunteer assistant coach. Both will be replacements for previously held positions.
The hiring marks Cassard’s return to Nicholls, his alma mater, after previously working as an assistant for the Colonels earlier in his career.  As Director of Operations, Cassard will handle a variety of duties from planning fund raising events to using his years of experience as a pitching coach to help the team in that facet. Third-year head coach Seth Thibodeaux looks forward to working with Cassard and feels his presence will have a positive effect on the team.
“It will be a calming influence on the head coach for sure,” Thibodeaux said.
Stewart, previously an assistant for the Rockville Express of the Cal Ripken Collegiate Summer League, will work with the Colonel players on fielding, hitting and base running.
“Stewart is a younger, more energetic assistant coach,” Thibodeaux said. “Having him around the program makes our players better.”
Compared to other schools, the Colonels have one of the youngest coaching staffs in the country. The coaches recognize the relatively young age of their group, which according to Thibodeaux can be looked at in different ways.
“Younger isn’t always better,” Thibodeaux said. “As young as we are, we still have a little old school mentality to us. We can relate to players because we just finished playing. Younger isn’t necessarily great, but it is good in many aspects.”
Thibodeaux noted that the team likes to focus on youth as an attitude rather than just a way of describing the players and coaches.
“We do not look at it as an age thing. We just like to think we have energy.”
Even though the Colonels do not play their first game until Feb. 17, the program has been keeping busy during the offseason. The players recently took some time to clean trash around various parts of Thibodaux as a way of giving back to the community.
“Community service is something we look forward to and want to do,” Thibodeaux said. “We definitely take a lot pride in that.”
On Oct. 13 the baseball program will host an alumni gathering at Ray E. Didier Field followed by the Nicholls State Baseball Golf Tournament fundraiser on Nov. 5.
Back on the field, Thibodeaux’s squad held its first fall practice Tuesday and will continue to work until Nov. 4.
“It is going to be an intense few weeks,” Thibodeaux said.
Looking forward to the season, Thibodeaux has hopes of a conference title but would like to stay in the present at the time.
“We can talk about February in February,” Thibodeaux said. “Right now we want to focus on September.”