Matt Viator Named FCS Finalist For the third time in his eight-year career as head coach of McNeese State, Matt Viator has been named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award as the nation’s top head coach in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) announced by the Sports Network on Tuesday. Viator and Southeastern Louisiana head coach Ron Roberts are the only two coaches from the Southland Conference to be listed on the 20-person final ballot. Viator was also named a finalist in the 2006 and 2007 seasons. Now in his eighth season at the helm at McNeese, Viator has compiled a 61-26 overall record – third most victories in school history and fifth-most in conference history.
His 2013 team is 9-2 heading into Saturday’s regular season finale at Lamar (Nov. 23). It’s the most wins by a Cowboys’ team since the 2009 campaign when McNeese finished 9-3 and won its league-record 13th conference championship. This season, the Cowboys have broken or tied 24 individual or team records, including singlegame, season and career for school, conference or national, and a handful of records are in jeopardy of being broken. Currently ranked No. 6 in this week’s Sports Network Top 25 poll, the Cowboys have been ranked in the top 25 since beating South Florida 5321 in the season opener and have spent nine consecutive weeks ranked in the top 15.
NAMI Collecting Donations National Alliance on Mental Illness of Southwest Louisiana will be collecting donations for both homeless veterans and people affected by serious mental illness through December 13. Items needed: Nonopened hygiene products, new socks (one size fits all), paper products such as toilet paper and paper towels, and items such as pencils/pens, crossword/find words books, journals and puzzles.
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The items collected will benefit City of Refuge, a shelter for homeless veterans; Maison D’Amis, a Lake Charles apartment building for those affected by serious mental illness; as well as local mental health recovery centers. Items can be dropped off between 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the NAMI SWLA office in the United Way building. 715 Ryan St. Suite 203, Lake Charles, LA 70601. For more information, call (337) 433-0219 or email anastasia@namiswla.com.
Volume 1 • Issue 12