By: TRACEY
JAGNEAUX
Sports Editor
At some point in time, anyone of us may find it necessary to make a change in the course of our life in order to revitalize and reinvigorate ourselves.
For Pine Prairie native Mike Yachera, that time is now.
The long time assistant coach for the St. Edmund Blue Jays has decided to see what it is like in the “Land of Troy”, as he joins the Sacred Heart Trojan faculty and coaching staff beginning this season.
“There are people at St. Ed’s that truly care about the place and want things to be as good as they can be,” stated Yachera. “But, it was time to make the change for me personally. I was getting weary of the turnover in the head football job and wanted to come to a more stable place.”
“I will definitely miss the kids there,” Yachera continued. “Every place I ever left in my coaching career I have missed and appreciated. Sometimes you have to move on to reset yourself and catch a second wind.”
Yachera joins a staff that has been together now for the past five seasons and will assist in football and basketball while teaching civics and world geography. While at Sacred Heart, Yachera hopes to bring 29 years of knowledge and a great work ethic.
“With all of the experience I have had, I am hoping to lighten the load and not have them worry about having to coach certain positions and help in the game planning process,” said Yachera. “I want to make this a better coaching staff by bringing a ton of enthusiasm and knowledge.”
Yachera’s knowledge of sports in general all began at Pine Prairie High School, where under the tutelage of legendary coaches like Clyde “BB” Vidrine, he was able to be apart of a state championship track team his senior year. Yachera also played basketball for the Panthers and made sure to soak up all the knowledge he could while being a steady, solid student-athlete for the Panthers.
Following his graduation from Pine Prairie, Yachera continued his hard court career at LSU-A, where he helped lead the school to its first winning record. After two years at the school, Yachera moved on to Baptist Christian in Shreveport.
Yachera student taught at Mamou High School in the spring of 1986 where he was first introduced to the game of football under then head coach Jerry Neal Ardoin. Upon receiving his diploma, Yachera picked up his first full time job at Chataignier High School as the head girl’s basketball coach, staying there for a year.
Yachera then moved on to Vidrine High School for a year, assisting in girl’s basketball and leading the softball team. After one year in Vidrine, Yachera pursued an opportunity to become the head boy’s basketball coach at Elizabeth High School where he helped lead the Bulldogs to a Top 28 appearance.
Yachera stayed at Elizabeth for a few years before moving on to the now defunct Acadiana Prep. After a few seasons with the private St. Landry Parish school, Yachera took a job at St. Ed’s where, with the exception of a one year stint offshore, he has roamed the sidelines as the defensive co-ordinator and head boy’s basketball coach. Yachera also coached boy’s and girl’s track for the Blue Jays and even softball for two years.
“Besides my short introduction to football at Mamou while I was student teaching, I had never coached the game until I got the job at St. Ed’s,” said Yachera. “But, I had always been a fan of football. So, I tried to get as much knowledge as I could during the summer before my first full season. I would go to clinics and meet with other coaches just to learn.”
After two seasons with the Blue Jays, Yachera gained the title of defensive co-ordinator and kept that title until last season when long time coach Kevin Manuel took over the play calling duties.
“I was fine with Coach Manuel taking over the co-ordinator duties,” commented Yachera. “I would help him with the game planning part of the job, but it was nice not to have to worry about calling the defense on Friday nights. It worked out real well.”
Even though Yachera has only been on the Sacred Heart campus for two weeks, he is impressed with the coaching staff and the players.
“From what I have seen so far is that the players work really hard, they do exactly what you ask of them and they do it full speed,” stated Yachera. “I have really enjoyed working with the staff. All of the other coaches are fun to be around and are very accepting. It makes me feel like I may the right decision to come here.”