Back on familiar turf with a vision: First-time head coach John Diarse embraces the return of Wossman to its past glory
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Following the 2024 season after John Diarse served as offensive coordinator at Slidell High School, he sat idly at home with plenty of time to fill without much to do.
A torn Achilles suffered while playing pick-up basketball shelved Diarse for 82 days straight (he counted every one of them), forcing him to spend countless hours drawing up plays to fit into someone’s offensive playbook.
Diarse wasn’t returning to Slidell for a second season, instead fielding phone calls about potential job opportunities that would initially take him to an undisclosed college. With family and belongings in tow for what he believed would be the start of his college coaching career, Diarse back peddled quickly when the transition to the position wasn’t not his liking.
“It wasn’t the best fit,” he said.
A friend called about a job that was about to come open at Wossman High in Monroe, Diarse’s hometown where he starred for the Neville Tigers before going on to play at both LSU and TCU. The Wildcats were in the market for a new head coach when Terance Cahee decided to join the staff at McNeese State, leaving Monroe after three seasons.
Believing the job, located approximately 10 minutes from where he grew up, would be better suited for him. He applied, interviewed, and was announced as the school’s new football coach in early February.
“God has definitely had his hand in it,” Diarse said. “None of this was on my vision board at all. None of it.”
Five months later, including an intra-squad scrimmage to conclude spring training, the 30-year-old Diarse has a better understanding of his personnel after implementing his offense and the defense from coordinator Chad Ali has taken hold.
The Wildcats finished with 64 players that didn’t include the incoming freshman which will further boost numbers for a team entering a summer of weightlifting and 7-on-7 to continue their development.
Wossman opens the season at home with Bastrop on Sept. 5. They travel to Tioga for the start of District 2-4A play on Oct. 10 where expectations for Diarse’s first season as a head coach are exactly where he wants them.
“What coach Cahee’s done here has been honorable,” Diarse said of Cahee, who led the Wildcats to a 6-6 record and Division II non-select state regional appearance in 2024. “The more I’ve talked to him I respect him even more and learning about the challenges he had to face. He did a remarkable job.
“He came into a foreign territory, not really knowing anybody here, and to maintain the level of success that he did was phenomenal,” Diarse said. “To do it with our kids is a challenge. We have kids that don’t live in affluent neighborhoods in parts of town. That can hold kids back from performing their best. What he was able to do in his time here was absolutely amazing.”
Diarse is a recognizable figure, having played wide receiver and quarterback for Neville which made four straight trips to the Louisiana Superdome. The Tigers won state championships in 2009 and ’11 and were runner-up in ’10 and ’12.
He was the state’s Mr. Football award winner in ’12, signed with LSU where he spent three years, and graduated before transferring to TCU playing two seasons and earning his master’s in liberal arts.
Diarse signed an unrestricted free agent contract with the Denver Broncos where he was cut, leading to an opportunity with the San Antonio Commanders of the Alliance America Football League which ceased operations three months after his signing.
“It’s been amazing to be back home in Monroe,” Diarse said. “It’s a familiar place with familiar people for me. My ability to relate to them gives me an advantage. I was once those same kids going down those same streets, going to these same neighborhoods. Being able to relate to them in that manner gives me an advantage compared to a first-time head coach who may go into a place where he’s the new guy.
“I hired a staff that knows the game, that all played Division I football,” Diarse said. “They know what it’s supposed to look, sound and feel like. We’ve seen some changes from within our kids with the things we’ve been able to implement. We allowed our kids to get out there and play in the scrimmage. It’s been amazing to see them grow. It’s been amazing to see them grow in our terminology.”
Diarse, a four-star prospect with more than 3,000 yards and 39 TDs as a senior, graduated early and enrolled at LSU for his freshman season where he played wide receiver. The former Class 4A Offensive MVP played under head coach Les Miles where the Tigers were 27-11 (the NCAA later vacated 37 wins from ’12-’15 because of a notice of allegations) and played in three bowl games.
Ironically, with LSU opening the ’13 season with a 37-27 win over TCU in Arlington, Diarse redshirted his first season before going on to finish with 28 catches for 412 yards and three touchdowns in 25 games.
With a degree in sports administration in just three years, Diarse transferred to TCU and played for Gary Patterson where he exploded onto the scene for a team that went 11-3 with a win over Stanford in the Alamo Bowl.
Diarse caught 30+ passes in both of his seasons in Ft. Worth and more than 400 yards and three touchdowns each season. He wound up with 68 receptions for 1,017 yards and six TDs – leading the Horned Frogs in yards (575) as a senior while his receptions (35) and TDs (6) ranked third on the team.
TCU was 11-3 in his Diarse’s final season, having played in the Big 12 Conference championship and wound up ranked ninth in the final Associated Press rankings.
Diarse counts his two former college coaches – Miles and Patterson – as two of his mentors along with his position coach at LSU, Adam Henry, who currently coaches the wide receivers for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.
“We’re still tight to this day,” Diarse said of Henry. “He’s like a big brother figure to me. He walked me through how to attack college in a business sense. He became my mentor in that era. They truly played special roles in my life and had a special role in my development today.”
Before the influences of the aforementioned coaches in college, there was the impact of his former head coach – Mickey McCarty – and offensive coordinator Brett Lemoine – during Diarse’s formative years at Neville.
“He was a very stand-up guy that I started a relationship with since middle school,” he said of McCarty, now the school’s principal. “I looked up to him who was a guy doing wonderful things in the community, building a program. Neville was good, but coach McCarty brought it to another level.”
McCarty led Neville to 197 and four state championships, two of which were during Diarse’s career where Lemoine was also an integral part of his success.
“I tell people as much as coach McCarty was a figure at that time, I would say the MVP was Brett Lemoine,” Diarse said. “We have a father-son relationship and that started in middle school. He shook my hand after games, we had lunch. We built a relationship and when I got into high school it just amplified. I didn’t know you could graduate early until he helped me. He played a huge role in my journey.”
Diarse’s love for the game waned following his time at TCU. His brief experience with the Broncos, where he caught four passes for 68 yards in three games, helped him cinch that it was time to find a new career path, one that wasn’t initially clear as the world began to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.
Diarse took a year to reassess his life’s priorities, eventually gravitating toward a group of 10-year-olds he could pour into.
“Being a head coach was always something I felt I could do, but never planned on doing,” he said. “I stepped away from the game and felt I needed a change. I needed to do something different because the love for the game wasn’t there as much as it was before. The higher and longer you play the more it becomes more of a business rather than something fun to do.”
Given his football experience at one of the top programs in his home state, coupled with two Power 4 Conference programs and a brief stint in professional football, the articulate and God-fearing Diarse also found satisfaction in training kids along with his cousin, former Tennessee Volunteers cornerback Jonathan Wade, who spent six years in the NFL with four different teams through 2011.
“After that, I began to think it was something I could do,” Diarse said.
Diarse created two 7-on-7 teams that traveled and played in tournaments, further supplying the confidence he needed to give coaching a try.
“I went on a 36-month journey coaching non-stop,” he said.
Diarse returned to the Ft. Worth area to coach wide receivers at North Crowley High for first-year head coach Ray Gates. By his second year, he was captivated by the skills of a tall, lanky receiver named Ka’Morreun Pimpton who had a scholarship from Vanderbilt to his credit.
Diarse was able to share his own background with Pimpton and offered advice if the 6-foot-6 prospect wanted to improve and garner additional scholarships from bigger programs.
“I told him I had a chance to make it to the pinnacle, I’ll give you this knowledge and you do with it what you do with it,” Diarse said. “He did extra training after practice and in the spring, he turned it up a notch. It’s the fifth week of the season and he has about six more offers. I was more of a mentor.”
Pimpton signed with LSU where he spent the two years of his career but has since transferred to TCU where Diarse remains in contact.
“He wanted to come back home,” Diarse said. “Going to TCU made sense.”
North Crowley reached the state quarterfinals and semifinals, and last season was state champions with a senior class that Diarse was around when they were freshmen. He spent the past year at Slidell for another first-year head coach Damon Page, providing him with additional credentials should the opportunity to be a head coach ever present itself.
When it comes to running his own program Diarse has borrowed from established coaches such as Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs, Steve Sarkisian of Texas, and Lane Kiffin of Ole Miss.
“At first, you’ve got to adjust to the kids,” he said. “You have to learn the previous culture and figure out how I can improve it. What do I need to add? What do I need to take away? I’ve taken the approach of making it a player-led team. I ask the kids all the time for input. I’m not coming in with a program and say, ‘Go do this because I said it.’”
Diarse has also tailored an offense to best fit Wossman’s skill set.
While the Wildcats are not overly blessed with burly offensive linemen reaching the 300-pound range, they’ll have plenty of speed that Diarse wants to take advantage of when it comes to controlling the tempo of play.
“I like to play fast, let’s get the ball in space,” he said. “In high school, you don’t get to pick your kids. You try to get kids out of the hallways; you try to use the best ones you’ve got in the best way that you can. We focus on lining up fast and snapping the ball fast and getting the ball in space.
“I’ve been blessed to have some athletic kids who can run,” Diarse said. “We’re going to make every game a track meet and once the defense gets tired, then we’ll slow it down and play smashmouth football. It will be similar to Ole Miss and back to when TCU had Doug Meachem (2014-16) going super fast. Like, Baylor back in the day, with Art Briles (2008-15). Just getting the ball in space and letting the kids make everything right.”
Diarse is also taking a deeper meaning to his profession when it comes to taking a greater look inside the helmets of his players.
He recently shared with his wife that his vision for his new position would outweigh his coaching acumen. He wants his players to have a full experience so that when they return to their alma mater, they’ll share great stories with their classmates from their time at Wossman.
Patterson, who spent a total of 20 years at TCU, was the first coach to capture the imagination of Diarse with the slogan, ‘It’s 40, not 4.’
It was a big-picture approach Patterson used in recruiting to get prospective athletes to look at the long-range effects of their decision to attend TCU beyond just their four years of eligibility.
“I’ve played football since I was 4,” Diarse said. “X’s and O’s can only take you so far. Looking back on my journey as an athlete and being an assistant coach under two first-time head coaches and watching their processes in how they changed programs and changed people. I felt I understood what the (head coaching) position is all about now. It’s not just about winning games and winning championships and breaking records, it’s truly about impacting these kids and making them better men in the process.
“I thought I understood the concept from coach Patterson,” Diarse said.
“I didn’t truly understand what it would mean later. Now that I’m in this position as a head coach, I understand. I’m directly responsible for the next 40 years in these kids’ lives and who they become. You come back to class reunions, see guys in stores, and the first thing you talk about is what we did in high school. I have a direct hand in that experience, and I’ve been intentional in creating a first-class experience within the Wossman program. The impact on people’s lives is starting to become more important than wins and losses.”
Wossman was a state playoff regular under legendary head coach Ray Gambino who led the Wildcats to the school’s lone state championship in Class 3A in 1986.
Gambino, who retired in 1989, later had the field at Wossman High named in his honor in 2019 to adorn the stadium’s namesake – principal Grady Jones. Gambino was 149-44 with the Wildcats (171-56 overall) and was inducted into the LHSAA’s Hall of Fame in 1988.
Wossman, which had two of its five state runner-up finishes under Gambino, experienced a stretch between 1979-1986 where the Wildcats advanced to at least the state quarterfinal or better – making six trips to the Class 3A finals.
The previous three seasons under Cahee, which all ended in the postseason, increased Wossman’s trip to the state playoffs to 42, but the Wildcats haven’t advanced beyond the regional round since ’96.
“My job is to take it to another level,” Diarse said. “Just like coach McCarty did for Neville which had always been traditionally good. Once coach McCarty got there and that 2009 year (state title), we had the right pieces to the puzzle and had the right guys in the right places, it turned into a championship season.
“That’s my goal is to come in and do the same things,” Diarse said. “Take the program to the next level. We want to start having some parades, hanging some banners just like two basketball programs doing.”
The two basketball programs at Wossman – the girls with four consecutive state titles, and the boys with two – provide enough incentive for the football program to put in the work to reach similar heights.
“I’ve told our kids that you guys are in the same classrooms with them,” he said of the basketball teams. “You’re in the same buildings with them. You essentially have the same DNA. We have to figure out how to do the same thing within our program.”