Full Circle Moment: Tyler Hassell returns to revive Many’s football program

by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

The last time Tyler Hassell was part of the Many High coaching staff, the Tigers were the toast of the Division III non-select football bracket.

The Tigers defeated Union Parish 35-13 for the program’s second championship in three years where Hassell was the defensive coordinator under head coach Jess Curtis.

It was the golden age of the school’s football program which made four consecutive trips to the Class 2A/Division III state title games.

The steep fall of the program, though, from a state quarterfinalist in 2023 – the year after Curtis had departed – to last year’s 0-10 season resulted in a coaching change and another opportunity for Haskell to return.

After serving a year with Curtis in Natchitoches Central, and last season as an assistant at Red River, Hassell was officially hired to become head coach at Many on Dec. 6 with an eye toward restoring the program’s winning ways.

“The energy around the program has been a shot in the arm,” Hassell, a native of Haughton and graduate of Louisiana Tech. “I sat down with a group of boosters over coffee. Everybody’s excited. We’re working on setting the foundation for the program. We’re setting it on attitude, belief, and culture. The belief comes first. We’re getting the kids to believe that they could be a winner again. That they can be a top contender in Division III.”

After eight years on Curtis’ staff at Many (2015-22), Hassell found himself with a different perspective of the Tigers’ program during a Week 8 matchup which was the team’s homecoming last season.

Staples such as tailgating, and fans sitting around the track amid a full stadium were constants that hadn’t changed, but the scoreboard told a different story.

Red River 48, Many 8.

“The community supports this program,” he said. “They’re going to support it regardless of who the head coach is. They’re just hungry for a winner again.”

Returning to Many was a full-circle moment

Hassell played for Rodney Guin, now at Calvary Baptist, while at Haughton where he graduated in 2009. He was an engineering student at Louisiana Tech until altering the trajectory of his future.

“I was lost without football and decided to jump into the coaching realm,” Hassell said. “I really cut my teeth at Cedar Creek under Ben Haddox. I was a CECP and found a love for the game as a coach and took it from there.”

He credited Curtis “for taking a shot” on him and hired him at Many where the Tigers were on the brink of taking their program to another level.

Many, which won the 2014 state title in Class 2A, followed that up with an appearance in the regionals with three straight trips to the semifinals. The Tigers broke through once again in 2020, defeating Kinder, 16-13, for the Division III state crown in Natchitoches. 

“I had applied around the state and Jess Curtis took a chance on me,” Hassell said. “He’s been a mentor to me, he’s a great friend of mine and we had a great working relationship. Jess showed me a lot of different sides of the game.”

Between the 2020-23 seasons, Many was 45-4 with another state title in ’22.

During that span, Hassell served as the team’s defensive coordinator and continued to serve in the role when Curtis left to become head coach at Natchitoches Central in ’23.

“We had a lot of competitive games in that district,” he said “We had six games we lost by a touchdown or less. Many heartbreaking nights, but we left it better than we found it.”

When Curtis opted to become head coach at Southside in Youngsville, Haskell went to Red River where former Many assistant, Byron Keller, was the head coach.

“He extended an offer I couldn’t resist and jumped on board with him,” Hassell said.

Red River was 6-4 during the regular season and lost to Union Parish in the state regionals for a 7-5 record.

Many found itself in the market for a new head coach after its 0-10 mark under Dillion Barrett.

The school’s principal Moses Curtis, the brother of Jess and father of former standout Tackett, reached out to Hassell for an interview. 

The search didn’t last long when Hassell was officially announced last week, marking his first head coaching job one that will require patience.

“He told me before he’d go on a search for somebody,” Hassell said of Moses Curtis, “he said he’d always had me in mind as the head coach. He waited on me for a long time. I wanted to sit down and ponder because it’s a life change for me and my wife. It’s the next chapter.

“Moses’ passion for football is through the roof,” Hassell said. “He gave me the opportunity and it was an opportunity that I couldn’t resist, a community I couldn’t resist. It was a full circle moment to back in Many.”

Back to the future

Among his built-in advantages to returning to Many was Haskell’s familiarity with some of next season’s upperclassmen. 

As the defensive coordinator in ’22, Hassell was around that year’s freshman class which will be seniors on his first team in ’25. 

“I have a group of guys that we already have a level of trust and they’re going to be my leaders throughout the locker room, the guys I’m going to lean on heavily,” he said.

Hassell’s already addressed the dwindling roster numbers of a year ago. With 38 players on his initial roster, he’s already gotten a commitment from 20 additional players by walking the school’s halls to join the team.

During their previous run of success at the school, Hassell said it was common to average between 75 to 80 players on a roster with a high of 103 in ’18.

“We’ll also have the eighth graders coming in the spring,” he said. “Living in a small town the size of the roster wavers. They’re down right now in this cycle, but the classes in the upcoming classes are a little bit larger. I expect it to grow to 80-85 range.”

Hassell, who was introduced to the team on Dec. 6, remains employed at Red River through Jan. 13.

During the holiday break, he’s able to conduct the offseason program along with some of his assistant coaches who are already in place.

While he will call the defense, Hassell’s offense will be in the hands of Randall Gordon, a five-year member of the previous staff, while Alan Warfield will serve as the special team’s coordinator.

Hassell will spend time assessing his personnel and implementing schemes to put Many football back on track. He does have the peace of mind knowing he can rely on an outline Jess Curtis introduced nearly a decade ago.

“You learn the good and bad in every situation,” he said. “This blueprint was pretty good for a decade or so around here. Jess did a great job here and you take a lot from those 10 years here, what it takes to get back on top as a contender. I’ve seen how the blueprint works here and that gives me a leg up here. Knowing the community, knowing the athletes.”

Hassell said Curtis’ three-P mantra – passion, pride, physicality – was at the core of the team’s success, but he’ll also offer his own variations.

“Everybody does something a little bit differently,” he said. “We want to be a hard-nosed football team. We want to be a gritty football team. We’re early on in the process of getting this train back on the tracks.

“We’re going to have to take ballgames down to the wire, we’re going to have to make them four-quarter games and get down right and dirty and win those battles in the trenches. We’re talking about a level of grit and toughness that we’re trying to instill in these young men.”

Hassell understands the task ahead, one he’s looking forward to tackling head-on. 

“There’s definitely going to be a challenge here,” he said. “When you’ve had an 0-10 season, you’ve got to sell the belief, the belief that this place is going to be a winner. I have no doubt about it. 

“This town, this community, they live and breathe Many High football,” he said. “They love their Friday nights here. It’s like the town shuts down on Friday night with a last one to leave the light on kind of mentality.”