Making the decision to accept the head football coaching job at Westgate High School was tough for Ryan Antoine.

The former WHS defensive coordinator was named head coach at the school this week by new principal Neely Moore, but only after thinking long and hard about leaving his job as the head coach and athletic  director at West St. Mary High School.

In the end, the desire to spend more time with his daughters, ages 12 and 5, and to fulfill a longtime dream of being the first black head football coach at a New Iberia high school swayed him to make the move back to his hometown.

“I have two girls that I wasn’t spending enough time with,” said Antoine on Thursday. He had been unable to comment on the job prior to officially resigning from WSM. “Spending more time with my girls was the No. 1 factor.”

Around 20 people app-lied for the job, Moore said, before she interviewed three finalists — Antoine, current WHS assistant coach Brandon Small and former Northside coach Vincent DeRouen.

“Coach Antoine is from the community,” Moore said. “He worked at Westgate previously. He knows hte community, the students and the school.”

And because it’s a transition year in more ways than one — Moore was named principal recently after principal James Gray resigned to take a position with the Vermilion Parish School Board in May — the new principal felt comfortable bringing in someone familiar with the area.

She said she’s looking for “just the continued success for our students, not just in wins and losses. Mentoring for them in all sports. He’s the athletic director too, so not just in football. Preparing them to go on to future endeavors. For me, that’s what it’s all about.”

Moore, who has been at Westgate for 11 years, first as a teacher and then as an assistant principal, said she feels a connection to the students. She expects the same from all of the faculty and coaching staff.

Antoine felt a connection like that at WSM as well. In two seasons he helped turn the Wolfpack around from a 3-7 season to a 6-5 mark in his second season and a playoff bid that saw West St. Mary narrowly lose its opening round game to St. Thomas Aquinas. Four WSM players signed college scholarships in the spring.

“It was my first (head coaching) job and the commmunity welcomed me,” said Antoine. “The parents welcomed me and the kids did everything we asked them to do.”

But he also had dreamed of being a coaching pioneer in New Iberia.

“That was a big decision for me,” said Antoine. “When I was in high school even, and when I was in college and then an assistant coach, I wanted to be the first black head (football) coach in New Iberia.

“I’m blessed to be able to be the first one. I’m glad for the time I had at West St. Mary. That’s a good program there. Whoever the next coach is, they will get a great group of kids.”

He knows he’ll get the same at Westgate. The senior class was in its freshman year when he last coached at WHS under then-coach Brian Fine, who resigned in May to take a coaching job in north Louisiana.

Antoine said his defense will be very similar to what Fine ran, with a couple of tweaks in coverage. Because it’s so late in the process, the offense also will be similar, at least to begin with.

“We’ll be fundamental and physical (on defense),” said Antoine. “We’re going to start branching out and doing a couple of different things offensively, but defensively things are not going to change. Those are the things that made Westgate (football) what it is.”

Eventually he plans to open things up more on offense to keep people from putting nine defenders in the box to stop the run, but those changes will take time to implement, he said.

“Coach Fine is a little more smash-mouth (in his offensive philosophy),” said Antoine. “I try to keep people guessing a little more.”

Antoine said he feels fortunate to be coming in with such a good group of players and coaches. Turnout for summer work has been strong, he said, which is a tribute to both.

“The coaches have been real good about keeping the kids involved while they waited to see who the new head coach was going to be,” said Antoine.