Healthy Outlook: A year after triple bypass surgery, STM’s Danny Broussard looking for state title to cap gratifying season
by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
For a survivor of triple-bypass surgery, 15 months prior St. Thomas More basketball coach Danny Broussard had to endure a state quarterfinal finish that wasn’t for the faint of heart.
The Cougars, trailing by a point with 4.6 seconds left and with three starters on the bench, inbounded the ball to junior guard Xarian Babineaux who got inside of a Huntington defender. After approaching midcourt on two dribbles and with another defender fast approaching, Babineaux’s desperation heave hit nothing but the net as the buzzer sounded.
St. Thomas More 53, Huntington 50.
The entire Cougars’ bench spilled onto the floor, creating a mass of humanity of teammates under the opposing goal, while a frenzied crowd gasped with enjoyment.
“Had I not had the surgery,” Broussard said, “it probably would have been really bad.”
Thanks to Babineaux’s heroics, third-seeded St. Thomas (31-5) advanced to its 10th consecutive state semifinal, and 12th in the last 13 years, where they’ll face seventh-seeded John Curtis (24-6) at 1 p.m. Thursday in the LHSAA boys state tournament at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles.
The Cougars are in search of their seventh state championship and first since 2021.
“I told people before the season started, I thought it was a state quarterfinal team,” Broussard said. “If we could get to the quarters with this team, I thought we would have had a good year. As the season went on, they made me a believerbecause of our ability to guard. I knew we would be competitive, but not in this manner.”
For a team with one returning starter in senior Elijah Guidry (7.7 points, 3.2 rebounds) from last year’s state runner-up club, this year’s template looked a little different than in years past. Senior Grayson Roy (10.1) is the team’s leading scorer and fellow senior Bo Couvillion (4.4) is the top rebounder.
With 90% of the team’s scoring having graduated the Cougars have leaned heavily on the defensive end of the floor where an athletic lineup has allowed them to flourish in man-to-man defensive concepts.
The result’s been a team that’s established the school’s record for allowing 39.5 points per game, breaking the old standard of 46.7 set a year ago.
“We’re able to keep guys in front of us,” Broussard said. “We don’t give up a lot of paint touches. We’re not giving up a lot of straight-line drives. We’ve made teams settle for not getting to the rim against us and we’ve forced outside shots. For the most part, we’ve done a good job of blocking out and rebounding. When you can limit teams to one shot that advances your opportunities to win.
“I’m not sure high school teams can hold other teams to 39 points,” said Broussard, whose team has held 16 teams to 40 or fewer points this season. “Our style has something to do with that. We’re not up and down. I get accused of holding the basketball. We’ve held it two games toward the end and spread the other team and went four to score. I think it’s a pretty awesome accomplishment to hold our opponents to an average of under 40 for the year.”
STM was at its defensive best on Dec. 29 in a 33-31 victory over Calvary Baptist, the No. 1 team in Division III select, to claim its first championship in its Sunkist Shootout in four years. The Cougars also limited The Dunham School, a semifinalist in Division III select, in a 52-49 victory and during a co-championship in District 4-4A play, never permitted more than 45 points in a game.
They followed that script in a 58-37 state regional win over Tioga and despite foul trouble and having experienced players on the bench, kept Huntington within reach with 50 points.
“Every game we’ve been in is because of our defense,” Broussard said. “We’ve played more man than we ever have this year. We’re not big. We have two 6-3 guys (Grayson Roy and Bo Couvillion) which is really not that big for Division I.
“We’ve had our struggles scoring but our defense has been a constant all year long,” Broussard said. “We’ve used a full-court press and half-court trap. We have guys that hustle, we play hard and they’re just gritty, blue-collar guys. Sometimes you only have one dog on a team. This year we have all dogs, and they get after it. As a coach that’s something you love to see that kind of effort out there.”
A heads-up led to a better way of life
The 66-year-old Broussard continues to enjoy one of the most spectacular coaching careers in high school history. The native of Leroy in Vermilion Parish was a smallish point guard who provided the spark for a Meaux High team in 1977 to a Class C state runner-up finish against Summerfield and Karl Malone.
The year after STM opened in 1982, Broussard was named the school’s head basketball coach after his brother Rickey left to become a college assistant at UL-Lafayette. He’s been there ever since, compiling one of the nation’s top records where in his 42nd season, he’s 1,161-308 to rank as the country’s third-active winningest coach and sixth overall.
The Cougars’ long list of accolades under Broussard includes:
- 34 state playoff appearances;
- 28 average number of wins per season;
- 27 district championships;
- 20 state semifinal (or Final Four) trips (ranked in a tie with Wossman for eighth best);
- 18 seasons of 30-plus wins;
- 6 state championships;
- 4 state runner-up finishes;
Individually, Broussard’s been named the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s Coach of the Year four times and is a member of Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2018.
“It’s been an awesome year,” Broussard said. “I’m feeling great. I’ve been a blessed man.”
Broussard only had to think back to the events of December of 2023 to realize he’s never been more fortunate in his life and career.
Void of any symptoms other than occasional high cholesterol readings, Broussard paid a visit to the doctor where one of STM’s former students, Dr. Kelly Cahill, recommended a calcium test.
“I had never heard of it,” Broussard said.
A normal test score is zero which means there’s no calcified plaque in a patient’s arteries.
Broussard’s test came back with an alarming score of 1,500.
“We knew we had some issues to resolve when that test came back,” he said. “They tried to put stents and the next thing I’m on a table doing a triple bypass.”
Broussard stepped away from the team and turned over coaching duties to long-time assistants Wesley Cortese and Ryan Welty. His brother Rickey, a former head coach at Nicholls, was allowed to sit on the bench during his absence.
Dr. Chance DeWitt of the Lourdes Cardiovascular Clinic performed the surgery and gave Broussard some sobering news once he came out of recovery.
“He told me, coach, ‘I can’t predict the future. I can’t tell you if it would have been six days or six weeks, but you wouldn’t have made it six months.’” Broussard said DeWitt.
Broussard admitted to amending his eating habits and replacing a tendency for fried foods.
He’s readily enjoyed more walks around his neighborhood with his wife Dena and the father of three and grandfather of two, was asked to slow the roll on his previously frenetic life.
“I wish I could say I’ve gotten more rest but that’s not me,” he said. “I’m one of those guys that can’t sleep anyway.”
With Cortese moving over a chair on the bench, STM went 16-2 and Broussard remained an interested observer with all of the Cougars’ games streamed live.
Broussard got a stern lesson on his behavior from his daughter Lacey who caught him attempting to text Rickey during a game against Karr in the semifinals of the Country Day tournament. She made her father realize that the staff assembled was more than capable of serving as stewards of the program until Broussard could return.
“From that point on, I said to myself my daughter’s right and I just watched the games,” he said. “I talked with Wes and Ryan after every game. What a tremendous job he (Cortese) did. He’s been with me for 13 years and when you’re with someone that long, you start to think alike. It was weird having to watch and having no control. After a couple ofgames, I learned to sit back and not stress too much.”
Trying to adjust to a new normal
STM was set to host arch-rival Teurlings Catholic in a district encounter, a week ahead of Broussard’s scheduled return.
“I told him (DeWitt) we had a big game that Friday,” Broussard said. “I asked if he thought it was OK if I’m there. He didn’t give me any restrictions. He said to behave yourself. I’ve gotten the best medical care in Lafayette.”
Broussard, who had previously missed one game in his career prior to his six-week absence, said he agreed with his wife not to stand during the game or raise his voice to his players or officials.
He went 0-for-3 that night, but the Cougars won their District 4-4A opener 61-46 and went on to an undefeated finish in league play.
“Dena fussed at me a little bit,” he said. “She told me I stood the whole game. She told me I hollered at the officials a couple of times and the players, too. At that moment I realized she’s right and I’m not going to be able to do it (follow the doctor’s edict). I’ve just rolled since then. I keep reminding myself how fortunate and blessed that I am.”
The regular season meeting with Teurlings rivaled the feeling of Broussard’s first game in 1983 at STM against Abbeville. There was an overriding sense of pressure that brought him back more than four decades to the time he coached the Cougars for the first time.
“I’ve only been nervous for two games in my entire career,” he said. “Usually I say that I’m excited, but I was reallynervous for the Teurlings game. Wes went 16-2 and if I come back and we lose on our home court against Teurlings, they’re going to say, ‘Coach why don’t you go back to what you were doing, and we’ll let Wesley take over’.
“I felt a lot of pressure to win that game,” he said. “It was a weird feeling. You’ve been out and you’re trying to tell yourself to calm down which is nearly impossible for me. I tried to coach differently when I came back. I kept telling myself to calm down and relax and not to worry. I just couldn’t do it. It’s how I’m wired.”
STM advanced to the Division I state championship game where, after falling behind 20-0 and creating plenty of angst, the Cougars stormed back where they fell short, 52-48, to Liberty Magnet of Baton Rouge.
“I was back to my old self,” he said. “It’s a state championship game and there’s a lot of intensity. If I survived that time, I’m good to go now. I knew they patched me up really good.”
Broussard said that in his team’s setback in the season finale, he passed a big test of coaching the way he’s accustomed to with plenty of intensity every dribble of the game.
While Broussard remains grateful to the efforts of DeWitt, cardiologist Eric Thomassee, and Cahill, his time away from the game, coupled with his return for a run to the state title game, didn’t alter the timeline of his career.
He believes he’s capable of coaching another five years through the age of 70 before entertaining retirement.
“It hasn’t changed my outlook too much,” he said. “I’m loving what I’m doing. What else would I do? I think I would just be miserable. I’m going to coach. I hope I know when it’s my time to leave. Sometimes coaches see it. I told somebody I’m having fun, my health’s holding up and we’re doing pretty good. I’m going year by year. We’ll see what happens.”
‘It’s been quite a year’
Broussard’s 42nd season began with a one-game suspension for remarks he made during his postgame address following the state championship game. The Cougars suffered their worst loss of the season to Zachary, a Division I non-select semifinalist, 79-46.
“That’s that a good way to start your season getting beat by 33 points,” Broussard said. “You’re wondering.”
STM won its next seven games, capped by its sterling effort in the Sunkist final over Calvary Baptist. The Cougars then ran into Archbishop Hannan (a 58-47 loss) and Country Day (64-57 loss), a pair of teams that are still playing in this week’s state tournament in Divisions II and III select, respectively.
A 3-point home win over Dunham sparked a 14-game winning streak that included the first three games of district play until a home loss to David Thibodeaux, 45-42.
The Cougars haven’t lost since and have their sights set on the school’s seventh state title which after Thursday’s semifinal, would include a meeting with the Liberty-St. Augustine at noon on Saturday.
“That kind of defined us,” Broussard said of the consecutive losses to Hannan and Country Day. “After that, we got on a 14-game win streak. Those two games made us better.”
Broussard’s coaching portfolio also grew before the year and once again during the season.
His legendary career earned him a place in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame where he will be inducted into the Natchitoches shrine in June.
Broussard, who was nominated by former assistant coach and STM’s athletic director Kim Broussard, was also named as head coach in the McDonald’s All-American game April 1 where he will take Cortese and Welty to coach in the nation’s premiere high school all-star game at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
“None of these awards were expected,” Broussard said. “It’s been one of those years where things have kind of fallen into my lap. This is incredible. The only way to top that would be to win a state championship. It’s already been quite a year.”
Ever the sports enthusiast Broussard, who has also won 13 state tennis titles and one in baseball at STM, is planning to take advantage of his coaching debut in the McDonald’s game. He’ll arrive two days in advance of the game with his family for a tour of New York, take in a Broadway play of the Lion King, and attend the season opener of the New York Yankees against the Milwaukee Brewers on March 27.
“I’m pumped up,” he said.
With Babineaux’s game-winning shot serving as a potential signal, Broussard’s not so sure his team is done. A new-look team has certainly captured everyone’s attention with its 10th straight trip to the state tournament where the Cougars plan to rely on the school’s best statistical defense and a balanced offense to get across the finish line.
“We have two tough challenges ahead, but I wouldn’t bet against this team,” Broussard said. “They’ve certainly proven a lot of people wrong. After a game like Friday, maybe it’s in the script for us to pull out some miracles. At the beginning of the year, if you had told me we would be playing in the Final Four, I wasn’t sure this is quite where we could go. These young men have stepped up and been a team of destiny.”