Latest news with #Guidry
Miami Herald
7 days ago
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Miami Hurricanes ‘needed to make some changes' on defense. Will they pan out?
When the Miami Hurricanes begin the 2025 season on Aug. 31 against Notre Dame, all eyes will be on their overhauled defense. Coach Mario Cristobal wasted little time reforming the group that handicapped his team a year ago. It started at the top with a change in defensive coordinator, with Corey Hetherman replacing Lance Guidry. It continued with the rest of the defensive coaching staff, with defensive line coach Jason Taylor the lone holdover from the group. New to the staff are defensive pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach Zac Etheridge, safeties coach Will Harris and defensive tackles coach Damione Lewis. And it is seen in the roster, with Miami digging deep into the transfer portal to find reinforcements. The Hurricanes have nine new additions on defense this year via the portal, including six defensive backs to shore up the team's weakest position from a year ago. Safeties Zechariah Poyser and Jakobe Thomas plus cornerbacks Xavier Lucas, Charles Brantley and Keionte Scott lead that group. 'All in all, we felt like we needed to make some changes in that department,' Cristobal said, 'and we made them.' And for good reason. Miami's offense was the best in the nation last year, leading the country in scoring (43.9 points per game), yards per game (537.2), yards per play (7.57) and third-down success rate (56.25 percent). The defense? Not so much. It regressed significantly in Guidry's second season and was a major reason the season ended with a 10-3 record and Miami missing the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game and a chance to compete in the 12-team College Football Playoff. The Hurricanes ranked 68th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 25.3 points per game — a number that ballooned to 30.8 points per game in conference play. In Guidry's first season as defensive coordinator, Miami allowed an average of 22.8 points per game but only gave up more than 40 points in a game once compared to three times last season. Miami ended the season losing three of its final four games after a 9-0 start, including giving up 42 points apiece in its final two games to Syracuse and Iowa State, which averaged 34.1 and 31.1 points per game respectively. Miami led 21-0 in the second quarter of the Syracuse game and 38-28 midway through the third quarter of the Iowa State game before eventually losing both contests. UM also lost 28-23 to a one-dimensional Georgia Tech team that ran for 271 yards — the most Miami has allowed in a game since giving up a school-record 554 rushing yards on Dec. 12, 2020. 'After Week 4 last year, we took a downturn,' Cristobal said. 'We slipped defensively. I don't want to blame anybody. I always look at myself and say, 'What could I have done better?' We had some injuries that led to some schematic changes that weren't the best for our football program.' Enter Hetherman and the slew of other changes on defense. Players have praised Hetherman's aggressive style of coaching and the relentless pressure he wants them to force up front. It was a big part in how he turned Minnesota's defenses into one of the top in the country last year before joining the Hurricanes. 'I love coach Hetherman,' sixth-year senior defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor said. 'He's a great teacher. He's just an aggressive guy, as you guys can see in his interviews. But he really just gets it down to the point. He's a technician; anything you have, he'll probably answer your question before you ask it. But he's an amazing person, a great coach, and he just lets us play free, play fast.' But with that comes lessons that need to be learned. The Hurricanes defense struggled with communication issues a year ago, which led to a lot of the opponents' chunk plays. That became a priority for Hetherman right from the start. 'If you don't communicate,' Mesidor said, 'your defense is going to get just torched.' A foundation was laid during spring practices. It will continue when fall practices begin on July 31. And then it will be put to the test a month after that. Players to watch While the Hurricanes have their share of established guys, Mesidor and senior linebacker Wesley Bissainthe have a few teammates — some returnees, some new — they're looking forward to seeing take the field this season. Mesidor pointed out sophomore defensive lineman Armondo Blount ('If you're looking for a guy who's going to run to that ball and just has maximum effort, he'll pop out on film') while Bissainthe mentioned Miami's two linebacker transfers in Mohamed Toure and Kamal Bonner, both of whom committed to Miami during the spring transfer window. Other names they mentioned included cornerback transfer Ethan O'Connor and linebacker Raul 'Popo' Aguirre. 'I'm excited to show the world what we've got,' Mesidor said.
American Press
17-06-2025
- Sport
- American Press
In the background
Gavin Guidry watches LSU practice Sunday at the University of Nebraska-Omaha field. Guidry, a former Barbe High School pitcher, missed the entire season and is recovering from surgery in April for a herniated disk. Guidry is quietly contributing in the dugout as he tries to stay in the shadows of the Tigers' run for an eighth College World Series championship in Omaha, Neb. Guidry pitched in the 2023 CWS. (Scooter Hobbs / American Press) OMAHA, Neb. — When LSU got in its first College World Series practice at Charles Schwab Field on Thursday, Gavin Guidry resisted the urge to gaze out at the mound. No reminiscing. No warm and fuzzy thoughts. Never mind that the mound in the middle of college baseball's mecca was the scene of probably the career athletic highlight for a player who has many to choose from. It's where the former Barbe High star and Gatorade Louisiana Player of the Year, then a freshman, was pitching two years ago when LSU won its seventh CWS championship. It's the same spot where he struck out the final Florida Gator before a wave of yellow jerseys engulfed him and he disappeared under the obligatory dogpile. Nice memory, no? 'Sure,' Guidry said Sunday while his teammates practiced. 'It's really cool but, seriously, I haven't done a lot (of thinking) about it.' Guidry is here, hanging with 'my guys,' and doing whatever he can for the LSU cause. 'It's their time now,' he said Sunday, pointing to teammates going through practice drills. 'Their time to shine, their time to perform. 'They worked really hard for this and I've tried to stay out of the way as much as possible and make it about anything but me.' Guidry is in the dugout for games, usually right next to head coach Jay Johnson, and will do whatever is asked of him, always there — 'They know where I am' — if some Tiger needs something. But he can't play. Guidry has missed the entire season with a curious injury that took a while to diagnose, with a root cause that remains a mystery. He had surgery for a herniated disk in mid-April and is ready to start rehabbing for next year whenever doctors give him the green light. There was preseason talk he might move from the bullpen to the starting rotation. In fact, he was due to start the second of two midweek games the first week of the season. 'I felt like my body was in a great place leading into the season,' Guidry said. But the scheduled Wednesday game was rained out and … 'I woke up Thursday morning stiff as a brick, couldn't move. It was really weird,' he said. For a few weeks, there was hope before, finally, season-ending surgery. 'We aren't really sure if it was kind of a wear-and-tear injury or if I did something and didn't realize I did something,' Guidry said. 'But, yeah, it kind of just came out of nowhere.' Guidry chose LSU not sure if he'd pitch or play shortstop — he hit .422 his senior year at Barbe while also going 8-0 on the mound with an 0.16 ERA, almost two strikeouts an inning (83 in 45). The mound prevailed and that freshman year he was 3-0 with three saves while striking out 42 in 28 innings. Last year was more of the same — 2-0, 2.59 ERA with 36 strikeouts in 24 innings. Now, back in Omaha, all he can do is watch. 'I know my role,' he said. 'I can't affect the game on the field. Nothing I can do to actively help us win games, just sit in the dugout, watch things, anything I can pick up that the other team is doing.' Johnson said Guidry underestimates his role and has valued his presence near his side at the end of the dugout. When he sees something of interest, Guidry isn't shy about bringing it up to Johnson and other coaches, players too. 'He's been super open to anything I've said …and I don't hold anything back, even if something I think they already see or know,' Guidry said. 'I just throw it out there in case they miss something.' But it's not the same. 'You work day in and day out to be on the field,' Guidry said. 'The last 21 years of my life to be out there competing. It gets taken away, it's kind of hard to deal with, sometimes hard to understand why it happened, what went wrong.' But this is no pity party. 'At the end of the day, just being in the dugout, I'm still experiencing something most kids dream of experiencing,' he said. 'I have to remember I've got it pretty good.' There's one thing he won't experience, no matter how long LSU's run lasts. Should this season end with another dogpile, don't look for Guidry in the middle of it. 'I'll be out celebrating,' he said. 'But I mean to stay away from any dogpile for now. Don't want to risk aggravating injury. 'We can do it again next year.'
American Press
08-06-2025
- General
- American Press
The Informer: Courthouse dome eludes exact engineering details
The octagon-shaped dome atop the Calcasieu Parish Courthouse — pictured on June 12, 1977 — is 32-feet wide and about 25-feet tall. The top of the flag pole pedestal adds another seven feet. (American Press Archives) For years, the assumption in Lake Charles was that the green dome atop the Calcasieu Parish Courthouse was solid — and tarnished — copper. Turns out, it's not. The question of how a solid copper dome that is 32-feet wide could have been lifted onto a three-story building in 1911 led to a startling discovery in 1977. Wesley Guidry, a draftsman with the parish's engineering office, found old photostatic copies of the courthouse's original blue prints 48 years ago and found drawings of steel beams in a hollow dome. 'The blueprint showed that the inside of the dome was made of an arched ribbed construction and steel braces were angled under the roof to give support to the dome,' Guidry told the American Press for its June 12, 1977, issue. Guidry took it upon himself to climb inside the dome to see firsthand if the steel braces were solid copper. To his surprise, he found tin. Guidry said the arched construction and metal underneath the copper roof gives both shape and support to the dome. He also said the shape of the dome is deceiving to those looking at it from ground level. It's not round, it's octagon-shaped. Guidry told the American Press the only recorded data on the historic landmark are the blueprints, he said. The dome was built by piece work. Thin sheets of copper, varying in size, were pieced together side by side without any overlap, he said. 'Inside the dome, there are cat walks that the men stood on when they were laying the copper sheets on top of the tin framework,' Guidry told the American Press. He told the newspaper he believes the seams of the copper sheets were soldered together. Guidry said its about 25 feet from the roof of the courthouse to the top of the round part of the dome. An additional seven feet is added by the flag pole pedestal. The shiny copper dome that was put in place in 1911 eventually tarnished over the years and turned pale green. Salt in the air oxidized the copper and turned it into sodium sulfate. Calcasieu Parish Administrator-Engineer Rodney Vincent told the American Press in 1977 that to clean the dome and restore its natural shine would cost a 'tremendous amount of money.' Vincent said at one time the Police Jury 'fancied' the idea of shining up the copper dome. 'But the estimates received were more than the Police Jury could afford.' The courthouse is a replica of the Villa Cora in Vicenza, Italy known as the Rotunda and was added to the Federal Register of Historic Buildings in 1989. The east front has a large Roman Doric portico with four high columns rising to a pediment at the roof line. There are north and south wings. A white colored balustrade runs along the edge of the flat roof.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Vermilion Parish narcotics investigation leads to the seizure of drugs and illegal firearm
VERMILION PARISH, La. (KLFY) — A traffic stop in Vermilion Parish lead to a narcotics investigation where an assortment of narcotics and an illegal firearm were seized, deputies said. Barry Guidry, 37, was arrested and charged for possession with intent to distribute Adderall, amphetamine, acetaminophen hydrocodone, fentanyl, Xanax, suboxone, crack cocaine, methamphetamine, synthetic marijuana and marijuana, firearm in the presence of CDS, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a fireman with obliterated numbers, deputies said. According to authorities, on May 22 a traffic stop was conducted on Guidry's vehicle and a search was established after alleged probable cause. The search resulted in the location of a backpack containing several types of illegal narcotics as well as a firearm with obliterated serial numbers, deputies said. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now This investigation remains ongoing and we will update as more information is released. Opelousas sales tax renewal heads to August election Vermilion Parish narcotics investigation leads to the seizure of drugs and illegal firearm Weekend Showers With Better Rain Chances Next Week… What would a post-car future look like? Eunice armed robbery suspects named; investigation ongoing Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Construction continues on state crime lab set for 2026 completion
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — Construction continues on the new Louisiana State Police (LSP) Crime Lab, slated for a 2026 completion. An LSP captain said the facility will provide more space, features, and law enforcement's biggest tool in addressing criminal cases. 'We're trying to meet those demands,' said Capt. Chad Guidry. A digital tour of the facility shows the new additions, including a dividable conference room, new meeting spots, outside features, and a new indoor gun range. 'You may hear that and go, 'They're going to just go in there and shoot guns,'' Guidry said. 'No. We actually can go distance determination, gunshot residue, we can fire larger calibers inside without having to go to a range offsite, or something like that.' The space will be double the current crime lab and be the biggest in Louisiana. 'The current crime lab is 53,000 square feet,' Guidry said. 'This is 118,000 square feet.' Louisiana has more than 11,000 unsolved murder cases dating back to 1965, according to a database posted by Project Cold Case. Guidry said more space means more analysts, and that could lead to more cases being solved. 'Adding more personnel down the road will help with that,' Guidry said. 'As science and technology advance, it'll make things a little bit easier.' Officials broke ground at the site in 2023, when the state stared down a large case backlog. Guidry said LSP is now doing better in that respect, but it was a pressing issue at the time. 'It takes more personnel, it takes more equipment, different types of equipment,' Retired Col. Lamar Davis said at the time. Construction is much further along than it was then, and Guidry said the foundation will be visible within the next two months. He said the initial $100 million estimate still stands. If the construction company informs LSP that costs have increased, Guidry said there would be tweaks to keep it at that total cost. 'We'd look at some cutbacks,' Guidry said. 'The cutbacks may be changing some of the shell pieces to the building, not adding a certain feature.' Guidry said taxpayers are not directly funding this project. Instead, it is funded through a bond agreement. The project has a 2026 completion estimate, but newer technologies are being implemented at the current lab. Guidry said LSP cannot simply wait on the new lab to be finished before adding that equipment. United Airlines cuts some flights over safety concerns; Baton Rouge Airport responds Third person arrested, accused of helping Orleans Justice Center escapee Construction continues on state crime lab set for 2026 completion Man in critical condition after shooting on Florida Boulevard; 1 suspect in custody LSP: Man killed, ejected from vehicle after crash in Iberville Parish Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
