Two seasons after winning the Sun Belt Conference title for the Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team, current head coach, Bob Marlin, is not shy of coaching.
Marlin started off early. He went to school to study physical education and health and got his start as a graduate assistant coach for ULM.
Since then, he has only been moving up and currently has had a career coaching for over 20 years.
His first head coaching job was with Pensacola Junior College (PJC) in 1990. He stayed at PJC for five years and received many accolades while coaching there.
Coach Marlin won the NJCAA National Championship and NJCAA National Coach of the Year in the same year. Over his 5 years coaching at PJC, he finished with a record of 123-35.
He also won 88% of home games and his team ranked in the top-20 junior colleges each season.
Moving on from PJC, Marlin moved to be head coach at Sam Houston State. He coached for 12 seasons winning 225 games and losing 131.
While coaching for Sam Houston State, Marlin won coach of the year in 2000, 2003 and 2010. He even won the Southland Conference Coach of the Decade award.
His team made the Southland Conference Championships three years during his tenure. This made him the most successful coach in Sam Houston State history at the time.
Today Marlin is in his 10th season as Louisiana’s head coach. He is the 13th coach for the program.
In seven years, he has led the Ragin’ Cajuns to five postseason games.
The 2017-2018 season, in particular, was extraordinary. Louisiana won 27 games, a school record, alongside earning their first Sun Belt Conference title since 2000. He also won the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year to go hand-in-hand with the championship.
Aside from this monumental season, Marlin has accomplished other great feats for the program. In 2014 the Ragin’ Cajuns made it to the NCAA Tournament and became Sun Belt Conference Tournament Champions. His team also led the SBC in scoring for six continuous seasons. During the 2014-2015 season, he even served as the president for the Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches.
At the beginning of this season, Marlin said he believed the team had to improve on their defense compared to last season.
“We’re off to a great start after two practices,” Marlin said.
He said also believed his players need to stay healthy, after injuries plagued the team in prior seasons.
“Unfortunately we had some injuries at the end of the season two years ago, and, last year, losing Malik cost us a chance for a second conference championship,” Marlin said.
The Ragin’ Cajuns are currently on a four-game losing streak after losses to Georgia State, Georgia Southern, UT Arlington and Texas State. The team currently has an overall record of 7-13 and a Sun Belt Conference record of 2-7.
Coach Marlin is still trying to do his best for his team, despite the current injuries.
“Each time we’ve had great plans for the guys, we told them to stick together, there’s nothing you can do. I mean you’re going to a fight and you don’t have half your ammunition, it’s gonna be difficult,” Marlin said. He said he’s hoping for the best and for things to get better and not worse referring to player injuries.