Just 15 days after the death of longtime UL baseball coach Tony Robichaux, the Ragin’ Cajuns athletic department has announced an 11 a.m. Thursday press conference at Russo Park’s stadium club to name the program’s new head coach.

Topping the candidate list from the start was Sam Houston State's Matt Deggs, a former Robichaux assistant.

The university confirmed the hire in a Wednesday night tweet.

Other potential candidates were longtime UL assistant Anthony Babineaux, McNeese State's Justin Hill, Southeastern's Matt Riser, Mississippi State assistant coach Jake Gautreau and former Mississippi State coach Andy Cannizaro.

Deggs coached the Bearkats for the past five seasons, accumulating an overall record of 187-118 during that span. He led Sam Houston to back-to-back Southland Conference titles in 2018 and 2019 one year after leading the program to its first super regional appearance in 2017.

The Bearkats won the Lubbock regional that year, advancing to the super regional at Florida State.

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Before going to Sam Houston, Deggs served as the hitting coach and recruiting coordinator for the Ragin’ Cajuns. One year after UL hit .263 as a team in 2012, Deggs had the Cajuns’ offense ranked in the top five in eight offensive categories in 2013.

A year later, Deggs offensive arsenal spearheaded UL’s ascent to No. 1 nationally and the program’s first national seed into NCAA regional play. The Cajuns finished in the top 10 in 14 offensive categories, including an OPS of .902.

Deggs would be replacing a legendary figure in Cajun Country in Robichaux, who had a career record of 1,177-773, including 914 wins at UL.

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In addition to Robichaux, Deggs worked under Dave Van Horn at Arkansas and Rob Childress at Texas A&M. Deggs also coached at Northwestern State under Van Horn in 1996-97 and actually received his master’s degree in Natchitoches.

The Cajuns are coming off a 28-31 season filled with injuries, not qualifying for NCAA regional play for the third straight season.