The Nicholls State University Colonel Football team is looking forward to the rest of the season with interim head coach Steve Axman.

Axman graduated from Long Island University and earned his first masters degree in 1972. Axman earned his second masters degree in 1975 while coaching at East Stroudsburg State University.

After he left East Stroudsburg State, Axman coached at the Army Academy, Illinois State University and Albany State University. Axman joined the University of Arizona as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for five seasons. Axman left Arizona to coach the Denver Gold in the United States Football League, a spring football league in the early 80’s.

Axman then coached in the PAC-10 Conference at the University of California, Los Angeles and Stanford State University in the late 80’s, and his first head coaching job was at Northern Arizona University from 1990-1997. In 1996, Axman was named Region V Coach of the Year, and in the eight seasons at NAU, recorded 48 victories, becoming the program’s second most winning coach.

Axman also coached National Football League Hall of Fame quarterbacks Troy Aikman (Cowboys) and Neil O’Donnell (Steelers), who played against one another in Superbowl XXX.

Axman said, “Seeing those two guys in the NFL, and the superbowl was the highlight of my coaching career, knowing that I coached both of them.”

Axman coached Aikman at UCLA, where Aikman led the Bruins to a 10-2 record and finished second in the National Collegiate Athletic Association in passing efficiency under Axman’s guidance.
Axman also coached at Minnesota State University for one year, and then went back to the PAC-10 Conference to coach the Washington State University Huskies. Axman also coached at UCLA again as offensive coordinator in 2003, then he went to the University of Montana to coach the 12-2 Grizzlies.

“Different conferences have different styles of play,” Axman said. “Some conferences are better than others, and some teams may be more pass oriented, some may be more run oriented or some may be more read-option oriented.”

The Southland Conference is more read-option oriented, and as far as different conferences having different strengths, the amount of scholarships also plays a role in the amount of players.
Axman said, “Nicholls has 64 scholarship players, where a school like Alabama or Louisiana State University might have 95 scholarship players.”

Nicholls may not get the big named players who will be drafted into the NFL because some players won’t develop as fast as others. This issue has to do with the amount of players who are playing football on scholarships.

Axman said of the resignation of Coach Charlie Stubbs, “I don’t know what the initial impact of the resignation did to the locker room because I wasn’t there, but I could see the players were sad for coach and beat down.”

“The goal for the season is still to win conference, and the Colonels have yet to play a conference game,” Axman said. “The players are obviously ready to start a run at the conference championship, and sitting at 0-3 for the season, the team is definitely looking to turn that around.”