Callin’ LSU: Eric Held Leaves High School Ranks After 25 Years to Join Brian Kelly’s Staff

by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

Had things gone accordingly Eric Held would be a high-stakes horse trainer, preparing his mounts for annual runs at a prestigious Triple Crown.

Held wanted to follow in the footsteps of New Orleans’ legendary trainer Tom Amoss, getting a job after graduating from Nicholls State from Amoss walking horses for $23 a day. It was the first step in what he believed would lead to the big time with larger purses and tremendous acclaim.

A job as a veterinarian’s assistant that originally had such promise ultimately fizzled and thus left Held without direction when former Brother Martin football coach Bob Conlin reached out with a job offer.

That led to a 25-year career in education and coaching, one that took Held to seven different high schools and administrative roles with the Louisiana High School Athletic Association and the Louisiana High School Coaches Association, until last Thursday.

The 54-year-old Held concluded that part of his journey with a new venture that began Monday as LSU’s Director of Alumni/High School Relations.

“It’s all about the relationships and serving,” Held said. “While I move on from the LHSAA/LHSCA and move on to LSU football, and it’s the same thing. It’s serving and building relationships, building that network of friends.”

Six years ago, when Held left the coaching profession for his role at the LHSAA/LHSCA, it represented the last time on a sideline when Catholic High of Baton Rouge lost in the Division I select state championship to John Curtis on Dec. 18, 2018.

The latest move further shifts Held away from the sideline where he served as head coach at St. Mary’s in Natchitoches and St. Michael the Archangel in Baton Rouge. He was 49-27 as a head coach, leading both teams to the state playoffs seven times.

“When I walked off the dome floor I kind of looked up at the score, we lost and walked off and my family was right there,” Held said. “I just kind of knew to myself that if this was the last game I coached, I’m fine with it because of the great experiences I had. I was lucky enough to be part of some great staffs on the stops that I made and blessed to coach kids that did much more for me than I could ever do for them.

“You never say never,” Held said. “It’s still in athletics. I still get to serve and build relationships. The older you get you learn how important that is and that’s what it’s all about. It’s great to win games, it’s great to know Xs and Os in sports. When you’re young, it’s more about how it is to draw up a cool play, how much you know, who you know, winning a ton of games. Then, as you get older, it’s about the people you serve on your staff and the kids that you coach and teach in the classroom. I definitely got better as I got older.”

‘Coach Bags’ had a way Held wants to follow

Part of his coaching journey included annual trips for Held to work at LSU’s summer camps. A collection of some of the best high school coaches converged at the Charles McClendon practice field to help carry out the mission of the Tigers sitting head coach and staff to the high school-aged campers on hand.

One of the more reverential figures Held came into contact with during those hot summer months was Charles Baglio, the former head coach at Independence High.

Baglio was the head coach of the Tigers for 22 of his 34 seasons at the Tangipahoa Parish school before leaving coaching to join the staff of then-LSU head coach Nick Saban as his director of external affairs in 2002.

“When I was a young coach and started working the LSU camps, he and coach (Sam) Nader were the guys,” Held said. “They were guys you looked up to. Because of their experience, you knew who they were. Nader had been at LSU for decades and had been the recruiting coordinator and helped construct some great rosters through the 80s, 90s, and into the 2000s. He was a part of a conference championship and national championships and the same with coach Bags.”

Baglio brought a big personality and knack to never forget a name with him to LSU where he helped Saban and later Les Miles build trust within the ranks of the state’s high school coaches.

Held was introduced by Baglio to then Franklinton football coach Shane Smith during the camp season. The two developed a friendship that’s enjoyed longevity to this day, even with Smith transitioning to the school’s principal’s position. 

“He knew what he was doing, but you didn’t know he was helping you build a relationship with Shane Smith who was a great coach for a long time at Franklinton,” Held said of Baglio. “That’s where we met and are still good friends over 20 years later because Coach Bags introduced us at camp as young coaches.”

Baglio had a way of making all of the state’s coaches feel important. He had a way of connecting with coaches that made him an invaluable member of the Tigers’ extended staff. That began with his idea that every head coach presenting their coach’s card could gain free admission, along with a guest, into Tiger Stadium for each home game.

Held also saw Baglio at LSU’s coach’s clinics where no in-state coach was a stranger. His recall was uncanny and his ability to make everyone feel at ease further endeared him to those coaches from all reaches of the state and beyond the state’s borders. 

“He always had a smile on his face and was always engaging,” Held said. “He remembered who everybody was. He remembered everybody’s name and I thought that it was important.”

Taking the same position previously occupied by Baglio isn’t lost on Held.

“You saw how important the profession was,” Held said. “He became a mentor of mine, and we became friends. Hopefully, he is looking down and happy for me. He’s someone whose legacy that I want to carry on. He was the best at the position, not only for LSU, but around the country. He was nationally known around college football, and he was part of three national championship staffs. He’s what you aspire to be as a coach and as a person, a guy that held this position.” 

Pivoting toward a new career

Held played for Brother Martin and continued his playing career at Nicholls State where he was the special team’s captain.

His playing career never deterred his love of horseracing and his thirst to become a trainer. 

“That was my goal,” he said.

Putting horses through their paces to one day win the Kentucky Derby was of paramount importance, Held said. That’s why he sought out Amoss, a graduate of both Newman and LSU, who was still in the infancy stages of his hall-of-fame career at the Fairgrounds.

A day after graduating from Nicholls, Held believed he was on the path toward his objective of one day training a Kentucky Derby winner who would then aspire to achieve Triple Crown status.

Amoss was responsible for training Kentucky Derby winner Serengeti in 2019, compiling more than 4,000 wins, and handed Held the keys to what he believed would lead to his own day in the sun.

He was up at 4:15 a.m. raking a shed row barn and later hosing down the asphalt outside of the barn area to remove even a speck of dirt.

“I learned that if you want to be great you better be able to do the little things,” Held said. 

What Held wasn’t able to do, though, was have his key to the training world when the veterinarian assistant’s position disappeared and changed the course of his future. 

“The guy who was the vet assistant for one of the top veterinarians at Fairgrounds, and other top tracks across the country, that job didn’t open,” Held said. “You never know what path you’re going to be on and Point A to Point B’s never a straight line.”

Held went on to coach eighth and ninth-grade football at Brother Martin for Conlin in 1994 when George Scheaffer made him a full-time assistant at Holy Cross in ’95, officially putting out to pasture any thoughts of training horses and instead embarked on a 25-year career in coaching and education.

Held rose through the high school ranks in New Orleans at Brother Martin, Holy Cross, De La Salle, and Archbishop Rummel and became a head coach for the first time at Class 1A St. Mary’s. He coached there for two years before moving to St. Michael’s, a Class 4A school, for five years and returning to being an assistant in charge of running backs and special teams at Catholic High, a burgeoning state power in Class 5A/Division I select.

The Bears won the Division I state title, 31-28, over Rummel in 2015. They were stripped of the title two years later amid recruiting violations and were runner-up to John Curtis in ’18 – the final game Held would coach. 

The position with the LHSAA/LHSCA had become vacant and wouldn’t be posted until January 2019.

Several board members of the LHSCA, Dwayne Jenkins, Dwayne Thomassie, Freddie Harrison, and Frank Daggs, alerted Held to the job’s vacancy and believed he would be a slam-dunk hire because of the respect other coaches throughout the state had developed for him.

Held had talked to LHSAA Executive Director Eddie Bonine’s wife, also a teacher at Catholic High, about the position. Since both families had sons who were part of the Delgado Community College baseball program, it also allowed Held to speak directly with Bonine about the topic.

“It was kind of in my head, but I blocked it out because I knew for another two months, I would be coaching football,” Held said. 

Relationships are key in success

With his previous relationships turning into gold in his role with the LHSAA/LHSCA, Held proved to be a boon for both organizations because of his ability to bring people together. He left no stone unturned, putting together must-see guest lists at coach’s clinics in December for the Sugar Bowl Prep Classic, and again in July for the LHSCA’s Coaches Clinics where he was pivotal in lining up speakers and vendors for the state’s high school coaches.

Held, who also assisted Eddie Bonine in the sport of football and oversaw golf, networked throughout the country, trying to line up guests to bring to Baton Rouge, and thus developed healthy relationships for the two governing bodies he worked for. 

During the LFCA’s clinic in March of ’21, such notable speakers as then Alabama head coach Nick Saban, then New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton were on hand, along with then Super Bowl winning offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy of the Kansas City Chiefs.

That same calendar year at the LHSAA’s clinic, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was a headliner along with assistant Chris Horton of the Baltimore Ravens and defensive coordinator Patrick Toney, currently of the Arizona Cardinals. They were joined by assistant coach Terry Joseph, a New Orleans native and current assistant with the Saints, along with then LSU coordinators Daronte Jones, now an assistant with the Minnesota Vikings, and Jake Peetz, passing game coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks.

LSU’s fourth-year head coach Brian Kelly made a handful of changes to his extended off-the-field staff which included his director of Alumni/High School Relations who belonged to former University High and LSU running back Nick Brossette. 

Held said LSU first reached out about the position in March before its own coach’s clinic and had additional discussion during the clinic itself. He then met with LSU Senior Associate Athletic Director for Football Administration Austin Thomas, who later extended an offer to which Held accepted. 

“The LSU brand is national,” Held said. “The outreach with high school coaches that LSU recruits, the kids and extending that, and reaching places that are not as familiar with LSU, or they don’t have a connection. You never know when they might have a player in their program or they may play against someone, or even someone in a neighboring state, which needs to be on your radar.

“I made a ton of friends, not only in the office but around the state in all sports and around the country with some other organizations that I was blessed to be part of,” Held said.

Held will be the direct link between high school coaches – those in Louisiana and outside the state – to LSU’s coaching staff. He will be tasked with getting coaches to practices, games, clinics, and camps for the opportunity for their respective players to work out in front of LSU’s coaching staff. They can then determine whether such a player meets the needs of the program and is a candidate for a scholarship.

“You just continue to build relationships, to get those high school coaches that weren’t a part of LSU football to practices, to the games, get their players to the camps, get their teams to the 7-on-7s,” Held said. “It’s important to fit in with everybody, learn how the culture of the program operates, and fall in line with that. Do what’s asked for you and do it to the standard coach Kelly sets for the program.”

Held realized replicating the process of thanking everyone who offered well wishes on his new position at LSU, like he did when he joined the LHSAA, would be a monumental task.

But it wasn’t for a lack of trying.

“It’s been humbling,” he said. “It was cool to see people reach out who I hadn’t spoken to in a while and some that reached out and found a way to contact me or my wife. Anybody that was able to text or call me, I was able to at least text them. In the last week, I knew I had to wrap things up at the office or with the coach’s association. 

“Whenever I was coaching people who reached out to congratulate us on a win, or winning a state championship, I made it a point to return all of those,” he said. “I always thought if anybody ever reached out to me then they’re going to get an answer.”