There's going to be a heck of a party in Ruston, La., this week. Good food, good people, all while the state deals again with the ravages of a hurricane
That's the only way Frank Scelfo can look at it. Three years -- almost to the day -- after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, he is involved in another relief effort. As then-offensive coordinator at Tulane, Scelfo was traversing the country in 2005 as the Green Wave played 11 games in 11 different cities due to Katrina.
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| Gustav couldn't stop these Lafayette, La., residents from tossing the pigskin. (Getty Images) |
"You know what? We'll get some shrimp out of it and they're (guests) going to bring some crawfish," Scelfo said. "I leave home early for work and get back late. The only thing I'm missing is great food and drink. I'm going to miss a heck of a party for a couple of days."
Coming off a win over Mississippi State and getting ready for Kansas, Louisiana Tech is out of harm's way. Elsewhere in the region, hurricane season is once again causing college football to reassess its priorities. LSU moved up the starting time of its season-opening victory against Appalachian State to ease evacuation traffic patterns as Gustav approached. Officials at Miami and Florida are keeping a close eye on another storm, Hanna, before their game Saturday at Gainesville.
Louisiana-Lafayette is closed until at least Thursday. Players were sent home over the weekend before Gustav gave the southwestern Louisiana city a heavy hit. Luckily for coach Rickey Bustle, the Ragin' Cajuns are off this week. The veteran of at least three hurricanes at the school is sticking it out.
"In 2005, we had everybody here getting ready to play a game," Bustle said. "I'll never forget the night before we played, kids are out in the hallway text messaging families trying to find them.
"Football is a great game and it's important. Sometimes we try to make it the most important thing in their lives, but it's not."
Tulane didn't mess around this time. It escaped to Birmingham, Ala., last week to continue preparations for its season opener at Alabama.
"It's really stressful for them," said Green Wave coach Bob Toledo, who has several players who were freshmen when Katrina hit. "At practice they were really concerned. It's a stressful for everybody. We've got to go play a game and yet there are a lot of distractions. It's hard to focus and we've got to go play Alabama."
Coming off one of the biggest victories in the school's history, Sceflo is similarly conflicted. At the same time he was taking congratulatory calls Saturday night, friends were beeping in him asking for a place to stay.
"Last night I finally stayed up until 2 in the morning talking to people," Scelfo said on Sunday. "There's so many people that have taken out second mortgages and just got their finances in order, now they're looking at it happening again. You just feel for them. It's unbelievable.
"I got home last night, I wanted to see where the hurricane was at. I was sick to be stomach to see how much it had grown."
