One Track Mind: Lafayette’s Ron Baillargeon honored for success, contributions
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
The first six LHSAA state girls outdoor track and field championships were part of the fuel Lafayette High coach Ron Baillargeon burned to set ablaze his coaching career.
“When I took over, I didn’t like losing,” he said. “We were getting smashed at track meets the first year.”
The first four years with the Lady Lions were rather non-descript at the district and regional level until Baillargeon slowly built his roster numbers, conveyed his philosophies on training and competing to change the complexion of the program.
Lafayette’s developed into one of the state’s top track programs for girls, winning three state indoor championships and finishing as runners-up nine more times (five indoor, four outdoor), elevating Baillargeon to one of the state’s premier coaches.
Baillargeon, 64, was recently awarded a 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Louisiana Track & Field Coaches Association, a testament to his contributions to the sport and the success he’s experienced over the course of his 31-year career.
“Basketball got me into the school system,” said Baillargeon, who first coached sixth-grade basketball at Episcopal School of Acadiana in Cade and was an assistant at Comeaux High in Lafayette. “I had to teach and bring home a check with two kids at home.
“Track grew on me,” Baillargeon said. “I loved it and decided to make it a career, and have stuck it out. I wasn’t a teacher that coached, I was a coach that taught, and I’ve done a really good job teaching and have had a lot of success with that.”
Lafayette has become the standard bearer in District 3-5A with 15 championships, including a streak of 12 straight until last year’s runner-up finish. The Lady Lions are currently riding a stretch of 12 consecutive Lafayette Parish titles, where they’ve won 15 times overall under Baillargeon, to go with eight regional crowns over a 12-year span where they’ve been either first or second.
With the LHSAA’s state indoor meet scheduled for Feb. 21 at LSU’s Carl Maddox Fieldhouse, Baillargeon is optimistic his team will be in the title hunt.
“This year we’re loaded,” he said. “We’re No. 1 in the 4×8 and 4×4 (relays), and we’ll put together a 4×2(00). We should be in contention to win indoor this year.”
Baillargeon was a two-sport standout at Northside High in Lafayette, a 6-foot-8 standout in basketball, where he continued playing at two different junior colleges and finished his career at Nicholls State.
He also pole vaulted for coach Doug Duhon during the time Greg Duplantis, father of Olympic champion Mondo Duplantis, was literally rising to statewide fame at Lafayette High.
Baillargeon still reflects fondly on his time with Northside basketball coach Roosevelt Hill, having dug into a bag of quotes and anecdotes from his former coach to connect with his teams during his three-plus decades of coaching.
“Discipline was so key, commitment and passion,” Baillargeon said of Hill. “Everything we had, we had to meet his standards, which we never did meet, and that was by design. He never wanted us to be complacent. He never wanted us to think we were ever satisfied because he was never satisfied.
“He realized you could do more; he was tough,” Baillargeon said. “He made a man out of me. He made us mentally tough. When I started coaching, I went to a lot of his Hill-isms. Of all the coaches I played for, he was the one that I respected the most and learned the most from. He was a big influence on me.”
There were also traits inherited from his father that worked for Baillargeon’s benefit.
Adrien Baillargeon, who was 6-5 and 230 pounds, was born in Quebec, Canada, and along with his five brothers, were known as the strongest brothers in the world. Their strength, gained from working on local farms and serving as lumberjacks, was put on display during strongman acts in Canada and the United States.
As a show of strength, one of the brothers is credited with ripping the door off of a vehicle that was involved in an accident to save a victim.
Charles Baillageron once pulled a bus attached to a rope with his teeth to highlight a 10-act show.
Adrien debuted as a professional wrestler in 1949 and became the NWA’s Canadian Heavyweight champion in 1955. He also was also a world tag team champion with his brother Paul, also in ’55, and was the Mid-South Louisiana Heavyweight champion in ’60 once he moved to Lafayette.
Adrien Baillargeon, the third oldest of the Baillargeon brothers, was also the NWA West Coast tag team champion with Paul in ’57.
“My dad was very stubborn,” Ron said of his father, who passed away in May of 1995 at the age of 76. “Losing was not an option. He always had a saying, ‘Make it, or die.’ We’re stubborn people. That’s the way I am, and since I’ve been coaching. We’ve done well. I’m passionate about it. I want to make sure they’re successful. I enjoy it. I enjoy working with kids.”
Ron Baillargeon first dipped his toes in the horse racing business, followed by a try in the chemical industry, but was largely unfulfilled.
ESA’s volleyball coach, Brenda Leblanc, a high school classmate at Northside, reached out to Baillargeon and Richard Jenks, a high school basketball teammate, about coaching the school’s sixth-grade boys basketball team.
He coached the varsity for four years, leading the Falcons to the 1997 Top 28 tournament, and started a track program at the school.
Baillargeon moved to an assistant’s position at Comeaux, coaching football and basketball. With his background, legendary girls’ track coach Tom Nolan asked him to work with the pole vaulters, until Baillargeon realized the cumulative amount of time required and the toll it had on his home life away from his two young children.
Lafayette High was in the market for a boys basketball coach and approached Baillargeon, but he rebuffed the basketball offer in favor of becoming the girls track coach.
He later accepted an assistant’s role with the boys’ basketball team.
“I thought, ‘How hard can track be?’” he said.
That was 24 years ago.
“The first few years were tough,” he said. “Everybody told me I was crazy to coach the girls. I relied on Coach Hill’s stuff. I had a small team in the beginning. I had to set the foundation and what was expected.”
Baillargeon waited until the volleyball and basketball teams reduced the size of their respective rosters and picked them up for another opportunity to perform in a varsity sport.
“They were hungry to prove themselves,” he said.
Baillargeon also had to be a good salesman for anyone considering track. The workouts weren’t the most glamorous, the conditions were subpar, and the program wasn’t selling itself on its previous success.
“It was hard to find athletes,” Baillargeon said. “Track’s not fun to practice. You’re running in circles all day long until you throw up. We played games at practice. You have to have fun. I created a family atmosphere.”
Lafayette eventually added building blocks to aid in Baillargeon’s process, such as a P.E. hour and a weight room.
“It just took a while to do it,” he said.
Five years into his tenure, Baillargeon experienced a breakthrough.
Lafayette finished second in both the district and parish meets. They were 10th in the state indoor event and 20th in the state outdoor championships.
The Lady Lions were just getting started.
Lafayette began a stretch in 2008 of winning six consecutive district titles, touching off a torrid stretch that remains current with 15 parish titles, winning the last 12 since 2013.
“I train year-round,” said Baillargeon, noting that he sought advice from area track coaches such as Tommy Badon, now head coach at UL, and Boo Schexnayder, now a member of the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame. “If you wait to peak, you’re never going to peak. You just train hard, and running is a skill. Just like shooting free throws.”
The Lady Lions grew into a statewide force. After back-to-back state indoor runner-up finishes in 2008-09, they became state champions the following year. There were also back-to-back runners-up in the state outdoor meet in ’10-’11, encountering their share of near misses along the way.
“We’ve lost state titles by one or two points,” Baillargeon said.
Over a 12-year span in state indoor competition, Lafayette never finished lower than fourth with five runner-up finishes – the last coming in ’18. They were equally consistent during a 10-year stretch on the state outdoor stage with eight finishes in the top six, including four runner-up finishes with the last one in ’18.
Baillargeon was named the state’s Coach of the Year all three years his teams were state indoor champions. He was also selected overall Coach of the Year by the Lafayette Daily Advertiser and its top track coach a year later.
“Track’s probably the most humanistic sport there is,” he said. “All the coaches are talking to each other at a meet. Athletes are talking to one another in groups. It’s pretty fun. It’s a war in football and basketball.”
Baillargeon, who also assists with sprints, hurdles, relays, and field events with the LHS boys, is enjoying the end result of LHS’s renovation project, including a new all-weather track at the football stadium.
Before that, he had to take his team to nearby Moncus Park to run.
The challenge deterring Lafayette from potentially sweeping this year’s indoor and outdoor state championships – something the program has yet to achieve – is the lack of viable participants in weight events such as the shot put, discus, and javelin, which are not contested indoors.
There are other strengths that will factor in the team’s success, such as the 800, pole vault, and triple jump, he said.
The Lady Lions, who count on assistant coach Tim Lemaire in the distance races, will be strong in all relay events with the 4×400 team set to compete March 12-15 in the New Balance National indoor meet at the Boston Landing.
After more than three decades, the race will slow down for Baillargeon following the end of this school year. He will relinquish his teaching duties where he’s mentored students in geometry and algebra, and special education.
Baillargeon doesn’t plan to stop coaching, though, and will continue as a non-faculty coach. The number of Division I college athletes, which he estimates at more than 70, will grow after this outdoor season by four or five, he said.
“I can’t bring these awards with me to my grave,” Baillargeon said. “If I don’t want to coach anymore, I’ll walk away. I want to travel. Get a van, ride around the country, and never have to worry about anything again.”