More than a Coach: Dexter Washington did some of his best work when Hamilton Christian needed him most
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Hamilton Christian School football coach Dexter Washington heard the plea from his principal, Morgan Daugherty, and shook his head in disbelief.
The small private school in Lake Charles had taken quite a wallop from Hurricane Laura in August of 2020. The entire region had been brought to its knees by the powerful Category 4 storm – the strongest to strike since 1851 when records were first kept by the National Weather Service.
Daugherty, who had evacuated to the Lafayette area, and Washington to Houston, were in constant contact about the school’s future and the role football could play.
“We have no power, but you want me to coach football,” Daugherty recalled Washington’s response. “Without hesitation, he jumped right in and was willing to do it.”
The gymnasium, which contained several classrooms, was the only structure still standing on the campus of Hamilton Christian, which was 30 years old at the time.
Daugherty was a graduate of the school and barely into her second year as principal of her alma mater, which faced a similar fate to those damaged schools around the city.
Wind damage uprooted trees and power lines, and nine-foot storm surges led to considerable flooding.
Daugherty remained firm in her belief that fielding a football team held the key to the school’s viability, and Washington was the person to make that happen under trying circumstances.
“We knew if we didn’t get the school open, it would never reopen again,” Washington said. “I drove from Houston and met my principal at In-Laws (in Iowa), which was the only thing open to eat. We met and talked to some guys who were over some modular buildings. We talked and got some brought to our school, and they’re still there today.”
When she returned to the school’s campus for the first time, Daugherty said the school’s newly renovated weight room was on 1st street, several blocks away from its 8th street home.
With blue tarps becoming prevalent throughout the area’s landscape, Washington convened a group of players, who, like him, had lost everything in the hurricane, with the hope of playing the game they all loved.
They practiced, even gaining additional players whose schools were devastated and not able to have football that season.
Hamilton Christian played its first game Oct. 16 at Basile – a 34-7 defeat – but that loss paled in comparison to what the Warriors had accomplished in the interim of playing football amid the destruction that surrounded them.
“It definitely brought the school and community together because there was nothing else to look forward to,” Daugherty said. “Everything else was in ruins. For two hours under the Friday night lights, there was some normalcy.
“I thought it was a bit crazy, too,” Daugherty said of bringing back football. “I remember walking into the gym after this, and we still had no power, nothing, and saw the room full of players that were working to do this.”
Daugherty attended every practice and even fed the team, driving as far as 15-20 miles to find food, before players returned to their semblance of housing in the evening.
Washington was a pillar of strength, providing leadership and direction for a group of teenagers who just had their lives turned upside down by a storm that caused an estimated damage of $8 million to their school, where FEMA has still not provided assistance.
HCS played its first ‘home’ game a week later, traveling to the Lafayette Christian Academy, which agreed to serve as its host for the rest of the season, posting a 46-0 win over Gueydan. The Warriors dropped a 34-30 game at Grand Lake before finishing on a three-game winning streak against Grant (26-16), East Beauregard (42-28), and Merryville (14-0), and were bounced in the first round of the state playoffs by Ouachita Christian.
A 4-3 record was an achievement, given the amount of tumult the team had already overcome.
“I stood by him in the huddle listening,” Daugherty said of Washington. “That was the strength that we kind of drew from to keep moving forward. That defining season catapulted the success that you’re seeing now. Without that moment, there is no high school. There is no high school basketball state championship. The sacrifices that coach Washington made for Hamilton at that point, there’s no one more deserving to see that pay off for.”
Washington decided to retire from coaching the Class 1A school’s football team after a 7-3 record in 2021. The Warriors were the District 4-1A runner-up and lost to Calvary Baptist in the first round of the Division IV select playoffs.
He believed the program was stabilized, a year removed from the hurricane, and had enough young talent to serve as the foundation for the future.
Washington shifted his focus to his duties as athletic director and coaching the boys’ basketball team, whom he guided to four state quarterfinals and three semifinal appearances since taking over in 2014.
“I felt the program was OK and had some numbers,” he said. “They could bring in a coach that could build because we had a lot of young kids at the time.”
HCS lost all of its games in ’22, getting shut out twice and failing to score more than a touchdown in two other games.
After the season, Washington called Daugherty, expressing a desire to return to football, where he had already established a deep bond with many of the same players that were on the basketball team.
“I told her there was no need to bring in another coach,” he said. “I knew all of the kids and had been with them since they were young, that I’d go back and do it.”
One such bright star was a freshman lightning bolt named Javon Vital who’s gone onto play a significant role in Washington’s rebuild of the football program.
The Warriors responded with a 4-6 record during the regular season with three losses by a total of 18 points. They finished 4-7 after a first-round loss to Central Catholic-Morgan City, but it was clear something positive was brewing.
Daugherty went back to the tenuous times following the hurricane and the role Washington played in the school’s survival. He was more than a coach; he was someone invested in the lives of young children and their families.
“We had a skeleton crew, it was us,” she said of herself and Washington. “They were thinking at the time there was no way the school could reopen. He was there with contractors, driving two to three hours one way to meet me. He was my right-hand in more than just the coaching aspect. We had to have a school before we could have a football team. He was instrumental in that.”
Washington led HCS to its best regular season in his tenure. The Warriors bounced back from a season-opening 32-13 setback to DeQuincy and reeled off nine consecutive victories that included an undefeated District 4-1A championship – a league they dominated by an average of 20 points a game.
HCS picked up its first playoff win since 2015 with a 41-30 win over St. John of Plaquemine before they were eliminated in the second round by Riverside Academy.
Washington was named the District 4-1A Coach of the Year, and his team was well represented with four players earning either first or second team honors.
Because of a lack of resources, Washington remains the school’s lone full-time football coach but has placed his faith in a group of volunteer coaches who are like-minded and share his vision for the program.
“These guys come in and work their hearts out,” he said. “They love coaching. A lot of them I’ve been around for a long time. They trust me, and they’re loyal to me.
“I’ve reached a point in my career where I want to be the best delegator in the country,” he said. “I wanted to be able to coach the coaches and not the players as much and prepare them for their next step in their own personal careers if they choose to move on.”
Vital was the 4-1A Most Valuable Player and first team kick returner. The team’s quarterback had 3,214 all-purpose yards and 47 touchdowns, including 1,528 yards rushing with 25 TDs and 1,226 yards passing and 18 TDs. He also had 560 return yards with four scores that landed him on the LSWA’s Class 1A All-State first team.
Chris Rideau Jr. was the district’s first team wide receiver (27-524, 10 TDs) and honorable mention all-state, Noah Menard was the first team punter and second team placekicker and wide receiver. Grant Hamilton was a first-team selection at offensive line and second-team defensive lineman. Other second team members were defensive back Caleb Stewart and cornerback Justin Weston
The All-Southwest team of The Lake Charles American Press named Vital its Offensive MVP and Rideau a first-team wide receiver.
“I knew this was the person I wanted on my team, anyone willing to do that and not even discuss salary,” Daugherty said of Washington’s willingness to help after the hurricane. “To see his heart for the community and those kids at that time, and the loyalty to them, and be successful.
“I’m trying to find him a wife,” Daugherty said of Washington, who turns 63 next month. “He’s married to Hamilton. I’ve jokingly told him when he gets married, his wedding will be in the gym. We would have the goal right in the middle as a backdrop.”
A multi-sport standout who earned all-state honors in football and basketball at Plaisance High School (now Northwest High) in his home parish of St. Landry, Washington, was the recipient of a basketball scholarship to Grambling State.
Because of a severe back injury, he never put on the Tigers’ uniform and instead became the equipment manager for fabled coach Eddie Robinson’s football program, giving him a front-row seat to one of the nation’s greatest college football coaches.
Robinson spent 56 years coaching Grambling, winning nine Black College national championships, 16 Southwestern Athletic Conference titles, and sending more than 200 players to the NFL.
“Besides the Xs and Os, I picked up the things that were important to coach Robinson,” Washington said. “How you dressed, how you carried yourself. I tried to implement in my kids no matter where I’ve been.”
A degree in accounting led to an insurance job in his hometown of Opelousas until the oil bust in the Acadiana area resulted in the closing of Planter’s Bank.
Washington was then hired by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), an independent federal agency created by the U.S. Congress to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation’s financial system. He worked at the FDIC’s office in Lafayette until it closed and then in Dallas, resulting in his working for both the Federal Reserve Bank as well as the Federal Deposit Bank until 1998.
He then pivoted toward coaching, an area he always felt strongly about because of his engaging personality.
Washington learned one of the state’s top coaches in Clarence “Butch” Fontenot of then Washington High before it was consolidated to form North Central.
“He gave me my first start in coaching,” Washington said. “I did some summer coaching and had (former LSU standout and NFL veteran Karl Dunbar). Coaching was always my thing. I love helping people.”
Five years later, he moved to Opelousas High and was an assistant in football to head coach Tony Courville for four years, getting the opportunity to coach future LSU and NFL wide receiver Devery Henderson.
He went on to become a football assistant at Lawtell Elementary for three years when Washington said he stepped away for “personal” reasons and later moved to Lake Charles and worked in a department store.
Then came a coaching job at Sacred Heart Catholic, a position he said resurrected his career.
Washington encountered another period in his life that required time away from coaching. He wound up as a CECP coach at Hamilton Christian in 2009, where he began coaching at the middle school and then was the defensive coordinator for the high school team.
Washington was named head basketball coach in the spring of 2012, a position he’s held ever since, steadily building the Warriors into one of the state’s more consistent programs.
Not only was HCS becoming synonymous with its winning basketball program, but Washington also helped grow the game in the region with “The Showdown in the Lake”, an event held each November that draws some of the state’s top teams.
“My son (Dominique) has been with me the entire time,” Washington said of his upcoming 14th season. “He’s grown a lot as a coach. He’s been my right hand the whole time at Hamilton. He does a great job working basketball while I’m in football.”
HCS’s basketball program has been in the basketball playoffs with seven trips in the last 10 years to at least the semifinals or further.
The Warriors lost to Lafayette Christian in their first trip to the Division IV state championship in 2019.
“It’s been a struggle to stay open, to keep the tradition going,” Washington said. “Athletics have helped tremendously. We’re hoping and praying when FEMA delivers, we’re going to build a new school, and Hamilton can go back to being that attractive school that kids want to go to.”
Washington has simultaneously coached the football and basketball teams for four years and is set to do so once again this fall. He also plans to be the head coach of the baseball team in the spring, giving him three successive overlapping sports.
“I’m involved in every phase of every sport at the school,” he said. “It’s keeping me going. I don’t sleep much. I can’t seem to get a wife, and I’m OK with that. I love what I do. When God saves your personal soul and spirit, and then HE tells you what you’ve got to do to maintain it, you don’t question it. You go all out.
“I’ve had so many people tell me what I should and shouldn’t do,” he said. “I know what God’s called me to do, and when the days were dark and I couldn’t see the end, God brought me through those times, and I’m not going to go against his calling.”
Daugherty’s not sure where HCS would be without Washington.
“The Lord put people like that around me,” she said. “Without him coming to meet and help, there’s no way we would have ever opened back up. People thought it was just football, but that paved the way for the future of Hamilton Christian.
“He’s just so humble,” Daugherty said. “A lot of the credit to do what we do, and I do today, is because of the sacrifices he has made, and the loyalty that he has to the school and the kids.”
Three of the previous five years for the basketball team resulted in trips to the state semifinals when HCS secured its second appearance in a state final with a 54-51 upset of top-seeded Crescent City of New Orleans.
The Warriors were able to hold off a determined effort down the stretch and relied on a triple-double from Vital with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists.
That set the stage for HCS playing in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Burton Coliseum, facing its old nemesis Southern Lab, which beat the Warriors in the ’22 semifinals.
HCS led 37-26 at halftime, but Southern Lab took a 56-52 lead with just over four minutes left in the game.
“We had been close before, and it didn’t go our way against Southern Lab,” Daugherty said. “We were so close and then it was snatched, but something was different this year.”
The smaller Warriors were not to be denied, a close-knit bunch that executed down the stretch. Rideau gave his team hope with a clutch 3-pointer, reducing his team’s deficit to one point, and Vital rebounded his own miss for the go-ahead basket with 23 seconds left.
Vital also produced a steal that enabled the Warriors to preserve a 61-58 victory for the school’s first state championship.
Vital, the game’s MVP, and Ned both scored 20 points to lead their team’s winning efforts.
“The guys just believed in the system,” Daugherty said. “We didn’t have the tallest roster, but the guys executed and played hard. They had chemistry. When you’ve been through the adversity like we have as a school, it just makes the victory that much sweeter when you get to experience that.”
Vital was voted the Class 1A MVP, Ned was second team and Washington earned Coach of the Year honors.
The All-Southwest Coach of the Year went to Washington, who also received a commendation from the Louisiana State Legislature at the State Capitol.
“This year we lost four kids off that (state semifinal) team,” Washington said. “I didn’t know what we were going to have. My brother called two days before the championship game, and I told him I was glad to get this team to the Final Four, this wasn’t the team we expected. He told me it’s normally the team you least expected. They played hard; they played together.”
One of the more indelible images that emerged from HCS’s state championship took place during the team’s postgame jubilation near midcourt.
Weston, clearly overcome with emotion, dropped to his knees, reaching skyward with both of his arms in a moment of gratitude in front of a triumphant Washington, who stood with his arms extended.
“He’s been that pillar of strength,” Daugherty said of Washington. “Watching all of the things he’s walked through and the sacrifices he made, there’s no one more deserving of that moment.”
HCS’s ability to shine under the brightest lights was the result of a team that had no ego, playing for the player next to each other, Washington said.
The Warriors may not have looked the part getting off the bus with tremendous size or depth, but the collection of players that saw time, carried out their assignments, picked up each other, and extended great effort.
“What I noticed toward the end of the year was a team that I’ve never had that played well together as a group,” Washington said. “There were no individuals. Everybody knew their role, and they did their part. The kids on the bench cheered harder for the kids that were playing. We experienced something most coaches would dream of that year.”
HCS also continues to thrive academically, and with the addition of a STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), the school received accreditation for the fifth straight year under Daugherty’s guidance.
“In spite of our facility,” Washington said, “we’re still trying to grow the school and keep up with the modern-day stuff going on.”
HCS, a Pre-K through 12 campus, is near capacity with 300-350 students, with projections that could reach 500-600 once a new school is built.
That number is much smaller with 80 students in the high school – up from 49 – but Washington has never let that deter him. With his own small-school experience of playing multiple sports, he’s applied the same principles of family, faith, and fundamentals to his own coaching journey.
“We’ve never really had a lot of kids in general,” he said. “We lift and condition together (football and basketball). We did everything (in high school), so when you come to Hamilton, you may as well make up your mind that you’re going to play all sports.”
Washington’s endeared himself to his players for the way he’s cared and provided stern messages when they always weren’t sure they wanted to hear it.
They good-naturedly call him the “Godfather” for what they perceive to be his constant criticisms, but Washington’s critiques have big-picture lessons.
“They have a relationship with me like they are mine,” he said. “They can call me for anything. We can communicate about anything. It’s from someone who cares about them and wants them to succeed and do better.”
Those same teenagers have been there for Washington as well.
Despite the upheaval of everyone’s lives after Hurricane Laura, Washington went to great lengths to be present for his players.
During the 2023 football season, they repaid his dependability when Washington received news, while on the practice field, that his mother had passed away. The matriarch of his family had become ill and lived with him at the time of her death.
“The kids saw the human side of him,” Daugherty said. “They’ve seen that and will go through a wall for him.”
The football team stood in unison at the funeral of Washington’s mother in the family’s hometown of Opelousas. They had been transported together to support their coach at a low point in his life, the same way he’s comforted them since Laura’s arrival.
“When the air goes out on the football and basketballs, I want to have more of an influence on them in life,” Washington said. “They understand my intensity and competitiveness, and more importantly, they understand how much I love them.”