Garvin returns to Ruston football staff

Your head can stop spinning.

After being released from his teaching contract in Ouachita Parish, former West Monroe and Ouachita head coach Todd Garvin has been hired at Ruston High school as a tight ends and running backs coach, officially announced Thursday morning.

"We are excited to have Todd join our staff again," RHS principal Dan Gressett said Thursday morning. "After he was released from Ouachita parish we decided to hire him and that became official this morning. We had to allow the process to play out. Todd is a great math teacher and a great coach. We are glad he's back with us.

Social media reports Tuesday evening stated Ruston had hired Garvin just a day after being fired as West Monroe's football coach, a report denied by Gressett on Wednesday morning. As to why the change in hiring Garvin, Gressett said, "We had not started the hiring process at that time. He was still under contract with Ouachita parish."

Garvin previously worked on staff at RHS as quarterbacks and running backs coach from 2019-20 before leaving to be head coach at Ouachita.

Ruston head coach Jerrod Baugh was pleased to bring Garvin back on staff, citing his previous working relationship with Garvin.

"As far as what it is with Todd, I've known him for 25 years and coached with him and worked with him," Baugh said. "I don't have to check with anyone else with how I feel about Todd as a person and as a man. I think bringing him on to our staff with the knowledge that he has and like I said having that familiarity will be beneficial to us."

Baugh said Garvin officially started work at Ruston on Thursday. Baugh added that he spoke to Garvin as the administrative leave process was taking place at West Monroe, wanting to check in on one of his former assistants.

As the two spoke, Baugh said the two discussed the possibility of him returning to Ruston.

"All of that stuff had not been finalized with his plans with him and there wasn't any thing to talk about," Baugh said. "I personally had talked to him, checking on him periodically while all that was going on and expressed to him that this maybe was a possibility if that's how things transpired with him and things had worked that way to release him. At that time of that first report, it was preliminary. It was just a discussion at that point."

Before he was officially fired from West Monroe, Garvin was placed on administrative leave after one of his players was hospitalized from heat exhaustion at practice. Four such heat exhaustion incidents took place under Garvin’s watch since he took the job in May.

Garvin coached one game at West Monroe before his dismissal, with assistant coach Kevin Davis named interim head coach.

Ruston is currently 1-1 overall and will travel to Cabot-Arkansas tonight. Ruston closes its regular season schedule at West Monroe on Nov. 3.