New Iberia Senior High School is hoping to once again battle for track and field titles following the hiring of head coach Philip Guidry from Breaux Bridge High School.

Guidry helped Westgate earn four state track titles, including three consecutive state championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023. 

Guidry said that his return to Iberia Parish has been welcomed by fans of both the NISH and Westgate programs. 

“This community has always felt like home to me,” he said. “Everybody has been very welcoming and has embraced me coming back, even the Westgate community was very supportive of the move. Coach (Derek) Landry and Mr. (Emanuel) Harding have been great and I look forward to working with them this school year and for many years to come.”

New Iberia Senior High experienced one of the most dominant periods in Louisiana history in the ‘90s, but have recently experienced hard times on the track with just a handful of athletes earning bids to the state meet over the past five years.
The Yellow Jackets’ most recent track and field accomplishment came in 2012, when they clinched the District 7-5A championship. NISH won state titles in 1994, 1998 and 1999 and state runners-up awards in 1995, 1996 and 1997. 

For Guidry, returning NISH to its former glory is all about developing the pool of  talented athletes that the school already has available and building a culture of competition. Alongside new head football coach Derek Landry, who also earned a state championship while at Westgate, Guidry is already hard at work with the football team this summer. 

 “We definitely have some talent here, we just need to stimulate them accordingly,” Guidry said.  “If we do that, we’ll get the results that we’re looking for.”

The first step is to get the football team ready for the upcoming season. At Monday’s morning workouts, the team were put through a series of drills designed to improve their cardiovascular fitness and grow their understanding of safe and efficient movement at speed. 

According to Guidry, his program will be familiar to the athletes, but they might not have been exposed to his style of rest and body mechanics before. 

“It’s nothing that the kids haven’t done before, it’s just the way that it is sequenced and how to use the proper terminology and rest intervals that might be different,” Guidry explained. “We want to put their bodies in the correct positions to be as biomechanically efficient as possible.”

That focus on efficiency is present in everything Guidry does. In addition to working with the track and field team, Guidry is also planning to help out with cross country, what he calls the “foundation” for all distance runners. Guidry also said he plans to take a more focused approach to training instead of a one-size-fits-all kind of practice that doesn’t allow athletes to reach their full potential. 

“It goes back to the science of it, how you’re stimulating them,” Guidry said. “If you’re not doing it properly, how can you expect them to run fast? I wouldn’t ask a jack rabbit to go run 10 miles, you know? If you’re doing speed and power events, you need to be doing those explosive movements and teaching them about how to properly rest and hydrate.”

With summer workouts already underway, Guidry is optimistic about what he can accomplish in his first year at NISH.  

“Success in the first year, to me, would be to increase the total size of the program. We want to be successful in all sports, so we have to teach the kids that track and field is the foundation for every sport,” he said. “I think we can compete for the district title in track in our first year. Last year, they lost by over 100 points to Barbe. Closing that gap and making us competitive is a good goal for the first year.”