Friday was a busy day for Ragin' Cajuns head coach Mark Hudspeth.
Hudspeth arrived at the football office well before the special teams meeting started at 7:45 a.m. and wasn't going to head for home until after the team meeting that ended after 9:00 p.m. In between, he ran a practice and flew across the country and back to take part in a college football show on ESPNU.
"Today was a busy day, but it is what we expect at this time of the year," Hudspeth said. "I ask my players to give their all so that we can help this program grow so I will do the same."
The Ragin' Cajuns had just the morning practice scheduled for the day with the players returning to the field late in the afternoon for a walk-through.
Hudspeth left the morning practice as it was finishing at 11:25 a.m., heading to the airport to catch a flight to Charlotte, N.C. on the private plane donated by one of the UL boosters.
"Today was a great example of how our fans support the program" Hudspeth said. "Without the help of one of our supporters, there was no way that I would have been able to go to ESPN today because if I had flown commercial, I would have missed practice. But because we had the use of his plane, I was able to be here for practice and then make it to Charlotte in time for the show.
"This is just another great example of how our fans continually come through for us. From the daily donations of food and snacks so that we can give our players the fuel they need to get bigger and stronger to the financial contributions that help us do other things, we get great support. So many times I come across our fans who simply ask, ‘how can we help'. That is big time," Hudspeth added.
Hudspeth landed in Charlotte just before 3:00 p.m. EDT and after a 20-minute ride, he arrived at the ESPNU studios.
"What an awesome place ESPN is and you can see why they do a great job," Hudspeth said. "The facility is amazing and everybody I dealt with really knew their stuff."
Hudspeth was scheduled for a 12-minute segment on the Friday evening College Football Blitz. Unfortunately, the breaking news of the dismissal of LSU All-American Tyrann Mathieu caused the show's format to be altered, leaving Hudspeth with a smaller segment.
"I would have liked to been on the air longer, but they were very gracious about the changes," Hudspeth said. "Any time that we get to promote the Ragin' Cajun football program is time well spent."
Dari Nowkhah served as the host of the show and he asked Hudspeth about the nine-win season in 2011, the New Orleans Bowl victory and plans for the future.
When the interview was over, Hudspeth headed back to the Charlotte Douglas Airport for the return flight, arriving back in Lafayette for the 8:30 p.m. team meeting.
LAGNIAPPE: The Ragin' Cajuns continue to receive national notice as the Bleacher Report rated the duo of Blaine Gautier and Javone Lawson as the eighth-best quarterback-receiver tandem in the nation this year. . . former Cajun defensive back Dwight Bentley had an impressive debut for the Detroit Lions on Friday night, earning the start and intercepting a first quarter pass to set up a Detroit's first touchdown. . . the Cajuns will scrimmage for the first time this season on Saturday beginning at 4:15 p.m. in Cajun Field. . . Coach Hudspeth has invited all RCAF members to attend the scrimmage, asking that they bring their RCAF membership cards and enter Cajun Field from the entrance in the south end zone, immediately behind the Cox Communications Athletic Center.