End of an Era: Live Oak’s Jesse Cassard says this is final season with team set to host quarterfinal series

by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

Live Oak baseball Jesse Cassard discussed the possibility of retirement a year ago before deciding the 2025 season would be his last.

Cassard said he’s previously shared the news with his top-seeded team (28-5) and made it public on Monday. His Eagles are set to host No. 8 Northshore in a best-of-three Division I non-select state quarterfinal series that begins at 6 p.m. Thursday.

“We know this is it,” said Cassard, who was also the school’s athletic director. “It’s getting really close and it’s getting real. I’ve made a decision, and this is going to happen. Let’s do it together. They know. Nothing’s real until it happens. This is the end. One way or the other it’s going to be a good ending.”

The 46-year-old Cassard’s in his seventh season at Live Oak which is appearing in its school-record third straight state quarterfinal. The Eagles are 178-58 under Cassard during his stay at the Livingston Parish school.

Cassard, a former Bossier Parish Community Parish, and McNeese State player, began his career as an assistant coach at Barbe under legendary coach Glenn Cecchini before becoming the head coach in Zachary and leading the Broncos to three straight Class 4A state championships (2007-09) – the first state titles for the school in any sport in 63 years.

Cassard (472-119) also guided Zachary to a state runner-up finish and a trip to the semifinals before taking over at Sulphur and leading the Golden Tors to the state quarterfinals in his only season.

“I wouldn’t be in this spot if not for Glenn Cecchini,” said Cassard, who is COO of 2D Sports. “I started at Barbe and learned how to do it from him. I learned how to win at this level from him and owe a lot to him. We still talk. We’re still friends. That’s really when I fell in love with coaching in the first couple of years with him. I hate to lose. I’m still a big baby when it comes to losing. I love to win. Winning is cool. It’s a great form of success. 

Assistant coach Cary Myers will take over as Live Oak’s head coach and David Prescott, a former football coach/athletic director with more than 40 years of experience, has taken over as athletic director.

“I was ready to do it last year,” Cassard said. “Beth Jones had left as principal and I had told her and Gary Jones, who was the assistant principal, that I was considering retiring last year. Once Gary became the principal, we had a great conversation, and I thought I should stay one more year.

“This year I haven’t done a whole lot of paperwork for the LHSAA and ordering things,” Cassard said.

“They’ve done 99% of it. It will be seamless when I leave, which is a good feeling that I’m leaving it in good hands.”

Cassard’s final season at Live Oak could be historic. The Eagles were last in a state championship game in 2014, losing 7-1 to Barbe.

Live Oak, the District 5-5A champion for the past three years to give Cassard 10 such crowns in his career, features a veteran team with 10 seniors that include Cassard’s youngest son Cal, a Bossier Parish Community College signee.

The Eagles followed an opening-round bye with a 2-0 series sweep of rival Denham Springs last week. Closing out the series proved to be tense, where a 3 1/2-hour weather delay pushed the finale past 1 a.m. The Eagles survived, 12-11, to reach the quarterfinal round. 

“Almost every senior’s played in the quarterfinals since their sophomore year in some role,” Cassard said. “This is nothing new for them getting this far in the playoffs. You’re still going to have those jitters. You still have the playoff anxiousness no matter how many times you’ve been. It’s exciting. It’s what you work for, and you want the best for the kids.”

Cassard said baseball’s been a part of his life as a player and coach for 42 years, and it’s been his time the past 18 years as a head coach that has come with personal scrutiny each season.

“I’ve always tried to get better no matter how good I’ve been or how bad I’ve been,” he said. “I looked at it as constantly evaluating myself and being honest with myself. That’s what most successful people do.”

Before taking the job at Zachary, Cassard said then principal Warren Drake played a vital role in laying a foundation of success for his program.

“I gravitated toward him,” he said. “He had such a great vision of success and the kids, and I bought into everything he said to do. I’ve also had really good players, good parent groups that for the most part stayed out of the way and let me coach their kids hard. That’s a recipe of what it takes.”

Cassard’s interests, besides his family, rest with a passion he discovered nine years ago. He joined Ross Blankenship when he purchased an interest in 2D Sports in 2016, an organization that’s blossomed.

At the time Cassard joined 2D, which also features volleyball, the organization didn’t have any youth tournaments in the age group of U7-14. Since his arrival, 2D has gone from five to 250-plus tournaments, one full-time employee to 18, and close to 1,500 seasonal employees.

Cassard’s son Cullen, a former pitcher at Live Oak, is a full-time employee.

“I’m not over just the youth, but all operations,” Cassard said. “It’s become a full-blown business. It started as a side gig to make a little extra money and make a difference in the game. Now it’s a massive day-to-day business and we try to stay 9-12 months ahead of everything. It’s good, but it needs attention.”

Part of Cassard’s mission is to expand the footprint of 2D Sports from Waco, Texas to Panama City, Fla. to Nashville to a national brand for youth baseball tournaments and showcase events.

The biggest part of a career change is rooted in the flexibility Cassard will have to continue to watch the continued growth of his son Cal’s career. After that, along with the anticipated evolution of 2D Sports, Cassard may consider a return to coaching,

“I want to watch Cal play,” he said. “Hopefully, he gets a chance to play at a four-year school. I want to show up, watch, and enjoy and for once focus on him, and help him grow as a player and as a man. I’ll still be in the game, but a completely different side of it. It’s the business side of it.
 
“I’ll still be around,” he said. “I might have some grandkids one day and get back on the field. Hopefully, by that time 2D would be in such a great spot I could take some time to coach again. I still love coaching. I’m not going to say no at least for a couple of years. Part of my charge in the next five years is to become a national brand. That will be my charge to build it. It’s exciting.”