Louisiana head coach Rickey Bustle has guided the Cajuns for six seasons and enters his seventh year in Cajun Country in 2008.

Coach Bustle won 23 games in his first five seasons with the Cajuns from 2002-06, including 11 of the last 17 games. UL won only nine games in the five seasons prior to Bustle’s arrival from 1997-2001.

Bustle saw his winning percentage increase each of the first four seasons since taking the job in 2002, but regressed to .500 in 2006. His 6-6 record in 2006 was only deemed a regression because of the high standards and raised levels of expectations by the Cajuns and their fans. In fact, Bustle’s 12 wins from 2005-06 were the most in a two-year period since 1994-95.

Louisiana went 3-3 at home in 2006, marking the fifth straight season – all under Bustle - that the Cajuns had been .500 or better at home. Bustle boasts a 16-17 (.485) career record at Cajun Field. By comparison, the Cajuns were 6-19 (.240) at home from 1997-01.

In addition to raised expectations, Bustle has brought professionalism and discipline to the program. Since 2002, the Cajuns 440 penalties are the fewest in the Sun Belt Conference and UL boasts the fewest penalties per game over that span.

The Cajuns went 6-5 (.546) in 2005 to mark UL’s first winning record since 1995.

Along with a winning season in 2005 came a share of the Sun Belt Conference championship. After starting 1-5 (0-2), Louisiana roared back into the SBC race with a come-from-behind road win at Middle Tennessee. From there came a homecoming win over Troy in overtime and a second comeback road win, this time at North Texas. A Senior Day victory over Florida International set-up the season finale at ULM. The Cajuns rocked the Indians 54-21, claiming the first school title since the 1994 Big West crown.

Bustle was rewarded with a two-year contract extension following the 2005 campaign, which lengthens his contract through 2010.

Attendance has also been on the rise, as the Cajuns began 2003 with an attendance of 24,211 vs. Louisiana Tech, one of the twenty best in the history of Cajun Field, and largest crowd in seven seasons. Then, in 2004, UL saw a crowd of 25,083 for the Sun Belt opener vs. Middle Tennessee and a five-game total of 107,006, the most since 1996 and the eighth best average (21,401) in Cajun Field history. In 2005, UL played before a homecoming crowd of 21,204 en route to a solid two-season average of 19,496 – the best two year average at Cajun Field since 1992-93. In 2006, the Cajuns homecoming crowd increased to 22,093, marking the third straight season with 20,000+ fans for homecoming. Last season, Cajun Field witnessed its’ third biggest crowd ever, as 33,828 jammed the stadium for the Cajuns vs. McNeese State.

During his tenure at UL, 15 of Bustle’s players have either been drafted or signed NFL contracts, including Charles Tillman and Ike Taylor. Both were selected in the 2003 NFL Draft and both have played in the Super Bowl. Taylor signed a five-year, $22.5 million contract extension in Sept. 2006 that included a $6.4 million signing bonus. In addition, nine players have been invited to play in post-season all-star bowl games, with a handful of those players earning multiple invitations.

The Summerville, S.C., native, became the 24th head coach in Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns football history on December 13, 2001.

Bustle earned his first collegiate victory as a head coach on Sept. 21, 2002 with a 34-0 victory over UAB. Louisiana held the Blazers to just eight first downs and only 94 yards passing.

In 2002, Bustle helped the Cajuns to their first winning record at Cajun Field in six seasons with impressive back-to-back victories over Sun Belt foes Idaho and Arkansas State.

In 2003, UL won four of their last five games en route to a second place finish in the Sun Belt.

More importantly, Bustle’s popularity across Acadiana had a significant impact in the stands. As a result, the Cajuns’ season ticket base rose by substantial amounts.

For seven seasons prior to his appointment as head coach of the Cajuns, Bustle served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Va. Tech. With the Hokies, Bustle developed some of the finest quarterbacks the college football world has seen in recent years.

The list includes former 49ers quarterback Jim Druckenmiller and Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. Vick was the first overall selection in the 2001 NFL Draft.

In fact, Bustle coached the top three quarterbacks on Tech’s career list for touchdown passes and guided players who have accounted for eight of the Hokies’ Top 10 all-time single-season offensive totals and seven of Tech’s Top 10 all-time single season passing totals.

The 1999 Hokies averaged a national-best 41.4 points per game, as Tech played in the national championship game.

In Bustle’s first seven seasons as offensive coordinator, the Hokies fielded seven of the eight highest-scoring teams in school history.

The team posted a 67-17 record and won three Big East Conference championships. VT went to a bowl game every year he served as offensive coordinator, winning the 1993 Independence Bowl, 1995 Sugar Bowl, 1998 Music City Bowl and 2001 Gator Bowl.

Bustle spent all but one season at Va. Tech from 1987-2001, leaving the Hokies in 1994 for a one-year stint as the offensive coordinator and QB’s coach at South Carolina. While at SC, Bustle helped the Gamecocks go from a 4-7 record in 1993 to a 7-5 record and a Carquest Bowl Championship.

From 1987-92, he was the quarterbacks and receivers coach at Tech before moving to offensive coordinator and QB’s coach in ‘93.

His ties to Louisiana include a three-year stint at ULM from 1984-86, where he started as the running backs coach for two seasons before becoming the offensive coordinator and QB’s coach.

He has also had coaching stints with East Carolina as a wide receivers and secondary coach (1980-82) and the USFL’s Arizona Wranglers as a running backs coach (1983). He broke into the full-time coaching ranks as the defensive coordinator at Gardner-Webb in 1979.

Bustle is a 1976 graduate of Clemson, where he received a bachelor’s degree in parks and recreation administration. He was a four-year letterwinner as a wide receiver for the Tigers.

As a graduate assistant coach, Bustle earned 27 hours toward a master’s degree in Special Education.

Bustle’s wife, Lynn, of Charleston, S.C., received her PhD. in curriculum and instruction from Virginia Tech in December 1997. She currently is a tenured professor at UL in the Visual Arts Department in the College of the Arts. They have a son, Brad, who is an offensive lineman at UL.