I found this on zLaTech.com at http://www.zlatech.com/sports/wade.html . I thought it would be good information to have now that baseball season is about to start.

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Simoneaux Named Head Baseball Coach at Louisiana Tech
Posted: Thursday, August 22, 2002

RUSTON, La. – Louisiana Tech named former Louisiana-Lafayette assistant coach Wade Simoneaux head baseball coach on Thursday.

Simoneaux fills the position vacated by Jeff Richardson who resigned last month.

“I am very excited, not just to be head coach but to be at Louisiana Tech,” Simoneaux said. “I have always followed Tech closely and I really like the atmosphere both athletically and academically.”

Simoneaux applied for the head coaching position at Tech seven years ago when the university hired Randy Davis and also four years ago when Richardson was tabbed as head coach.

Simoneaux spent the past seven years as the top assistant to UL-Lafayette head coach Tony Robichaux and brings a strong reputation as a winner and solid recruiter to Tech.

“Coach Simoneaux’s approach to building a strong program will be similar to what Jack Bicknell and Keith Richard have done at Tech,” Tech director of athletics Jim Oakes said.

Simoneaux was chosen from a large group of very qualified candidates. One of the finalists for the position was Tech pitching coach Brian Rountree who Simoneaux would like to keep on the staff.

“I am going to do all I can to keep Coach Rountree around as the pitching coach,” Simoneaux said. “He is my first choice.”

The 42-year old Simoneaux takes over a program that will be entering its second season in the Western Athletic Conference next year.

Simoneaux is a Baton Rouge native and graduated from Nicholls State in 1984 while serving as student assistant and graduate assistant baseball coach.

“I think you are getting a guy who is ready to be a head coach.” Louisiana-Lafayette head coach Tony Robichaux said.

Simoneaux has been a big part of the success of the Louisiana-Lafayette baseball program serving as the recruiting coordinator and coaching the hitters and infielders.

“The players will have to play hard or they won’t play. He has been my third base coach here and has done a great job. Wade has been exposed to a lot of fund raising and all of these things has well rounded him to be able to succeed as a head coach,” Robichaux added.

Under Simoneaux’s direction, Louisiana-Lafayette hitters have posted three of the top four hit per game averages in the program’s history as a division one school.

Among the other duties Simoneaux handled at UL-Lafayette is team travel and scheduling.

“Coach Simoneaux has earned a reputation as a tenacious recruiter, strict disciplinarian and outstanding fundraiser,” Oakes added.

Simoneaux is fairly familiar with the Bulldog roster and players since Tech and UL-Lafayette were conference rivals until Tech moved to the Western Athletic Conference last year.

“I will evaluate every position and every player every year,” Simoneaux said. “We played the best players we had at UL-Lafayette and everyone on the roster will be given a shot to compete for playing time, even walk-ons. We went to the College World Series with two walk-ons starting for us at UL-Lafayette.”

While at Louisiana-Lafayette, the Cajuns participated in the NCAA Tournament five times including a third place finish in the College World Series in 2000.

Simoneaux promises to bring an aggressive style of baseball much like that that Louisiana-Lafayette has become known for.

“We will be aggressive, that is the only way I know,” Simoneaux said. “I am not big on the sacrifice bunt but we will do a lot of things. The players have to buy into your style of play.”

Simoneaux is a two-time winner of the UL-Lafayette assistant coach of the year award.

Prior to this tenure at UL-Lafayette, Simoneaux served has head coach at Episcopal High School in Baton Rouge for five seasons.

He chaired the committee for completion of a $1 million baseball facility facelift.

Other career highlights include, four American Legion World Series appearances and nine state championships in 11 summers.

Simoneaux has also served as the head baseball coach at Ascension Catholic High School and was an assistant at East Ascension High School.

Simoneaux is married to the former Bridget Landry of Gonzales, La. and the couple has one child, Thomas Wade who is 10