East Iberville High School is beginning a new era of Tiger football as head coach Peter Villia is now taking over the football program. The 44 year old veteran assistant coach is getting his first taste of being a head coach and with his past relationships with the administration, it has been a smooth transition to St. Gabriel.
“Coach Key is the athletic director and me and him have worked together for 12 years at Plaquemine High School. We have become brothers, but when I got the call from him that they were actually looking for a job, he knew where I was mentally and emotionally and how I wanted to be a head coach. I also worked with the principal Ms. Pierce, who was also at Plaquemine. I’ve known her for the last 14 to 18 years and we have a good rapport because she is trying to change that dynamic over there as well. We have new leadership, but everybody has an identity that they are trying to accomplish and knowing that community and understanding what I believe in, we are trying to put those things together to change the whole trajectory of East Iberville. They have new construction going on over there with the facilities. I walked into a field house that I had nothing to do with, a new press box, etc. All of those things are things that you ask for as a first year head coach and I am actually walking into that.”
East Iberville Head Coach Peter Villia
Coach Villia is also walking into a really good situation on the field as the East Iberville Tigers are on one of their most successful runs in program history. It also started with Ron LeJeune, who inherited a program that at one point lost 46 games in a row before winning one. Coach LeJeune made one of the most impressive turnarounds by guiding the Tigers to three consecutive playoff winning seasons including their first Quarterfinal appearance in school history in 2019.
Then, Justin Joseph took it over and led the Tigers to their first semifinal appearance the very next year in 2020. Coach Villia is looking to continue to lay the groundwork that they helped build and make East Iberville a consistent winning program.
“The main thing that we have been doing this summer is trying to make sure that the kids communicate a little bit better when it comes down to our expectations. We are trying to teach young boys become young men. We are teaching them responsibility about how to talk to each other and how to hold each other accountable. In the past, they have a good history of winning, but right now, we are trying to continue that process and rebuild it a little bit.”
East Iberville Head Coach Peter Villia
One of the first things that Villia did was keep a lot of the coaches that are used to the area and the school including Coach LeJeune as he was hired to be an analyst for the Tigers after the Gridiron Football Media Day was held in July.
“I actually got there mid April. We didn’t do spring ball, but we did what we call OTAs just to see what kids are doing and to see how the coaches manage the things that we do. I kept Rodarrick Jones. He is the head baseball coach and he is going to be back there this year. Everybody else is going to be fairly new. Greg Gathers, who was the defensive coordinator at Donaldsonville, is going to be coming with me along with Charles Sanders, who is also going to assist us as well. We are still trying to finalize our staff. We just hired a former coach on our staff in Solomon Lee, who used to be there years ago. He is returning back and will be helping us out. Right now, we are trying to put the pieces to the puzzle and making sure we have coaches on campus that want to coach our kids and understand to help boys become better young men.”
East Iberville Head Coach Peter Villia
The recent history and the facilities are in place. Now, the biggest thing for the Tigers program is to keep the talent within the parish.
“Because I’m from Iberville Parish and Plaquemine, I knew that St. Gabriel was in the middle of everything including Baton Rouge, Geismar, Gonzales. You have a lot of infrastructure that could be out there so that means the people that live there that are athletes can go to other places. My job is to get those kids that live in that community to get them back home. It is a great place, but now it is to get those kids to come back. The best thing to do is win and have a program in place that people can trust you to go back home. That’s what I want to bring when I look at this area.”
East Iberville Head Coach Peter Villia
The Tigers do have some talent to build upon for this upcoming season led by one of the most underrated playmakers in the Baton Rouge area that is a two time 1st Team All-District selection in Theo Dunn.
“Right now, Theo Dunn is our leader and last year, he had over 16 touchdowns. It was pretty remarkable for him with the type of offense they were basically a more running type of offense, but he was able to do it through the air and on the ground.”
East Iberville Head Coach Peter Villia
“We also have a new guy coming in right now that didn’t play much last year because he was a baseball guy, but his name is Colton Melancon. The kid is about 6’3 to 6’4. He is my Y tight end guy, but he is also going to play a little bit of quarterback. He has also taken on that role of working hard and doing the things that we want him to do in the community.”
East Iberville Head Coach Peter Villia
“We got Ashontis Brooks, who is going to be a senior and is going to be one of our H-Backs. We are looking for some big things coming out of him as well.”
East Iberville Head Coach Peter Villia
Not to mention, the Tigers have two other key contributors that attended Gridiron Football’s Media Day in DE Gabriel Johnson and RB/TE/LB Darian Ausbon.
During its impressive run, East Iberville was a run heavy offense, but Coach Villia says that the offense is going to be more balanced while at the same time, the defense is going to be more multiple.
“We are going to do what we can do. If we run it, we will run it. If we get the chance to throw it in the air, we will. It depends on the personnel and the certain packages that we are in. My biggest thing is to get the ball to your playmakers and allow them to be athletes and do what they are supposed to do. Sometimes, it is handing the ball off or letting Theo be the quarterback and running quarterback counter. Whatever we need to do to make those things go, we are going to do that as a staff in order to try and make our program blossom.”
East Iberville Head Coach Peter Villia
“Defensively, you will see a 4-2-5. We will also do some 3-4 based on our alignment and things like that. The main thing that we are trying to focus on right now is speed and making sure that our kids are in shape. Most of the kids play on both sides of the ball. They have been working on getting in shape in the trenches while also being able to run four to eight seconds a play and that’s what we are going to try and do everyday.”
East Iberville Head Coach Peter Villia
East Iberville’s schedule is intriguing with two games that will serve a lot of headlines in multiple different ways including a reunion with his former school and also a reintroduction to an old rivalry.
“It gives us a chance to see what we can do. I am actually playing against my former school that I coached at in Donaldsonville, which is crazy because me and Coach Lee are really close. He was like I can help you with whatever we can all the way until Week 4 and after that, we can talk back, but he has been really supportive. As a first year head coach, I can always call on him just for advice even though I’ve been coaching for over 20 years.”
East Iberville Head Coach Peter Villia
“East Iberville and White Castle is always a rivalry and always a game that everybody wants to see. Ascension Catholic is going to be a huge game, but the game that a lot of people are really wanting to go see is East Iberville versus North Iberville because now, they are varsity and Coach Gast is doing a fabulous job of building that program. I saw that the community is really coming out for them and I think that the Grosse Tete/Maringouin community wants to have that community. That is going to gel our parish as a whole when you put those teams back together.”
East Iberville Head Coach Peter Villia
When it comes down to it, Peter Villia may be a new head coach, but his experience as an assistant coach, he has a plan in order for the East Iberville Tigers to be a lasting program in the Baton Rouge area.
“One of the biggest things I talked about was communication and making sure that our athletes open up and talk. Even though we want our athletes to be tough and that we want them to communicate because there may be some experiences away from sports that they may not want to talk about. Being able to trust a coach will allow them to do certain things and play for you because they believe in you. The second thing is perseverance because there will be some adversity, but the biggest thing is how do you handle it as a player, as a coach, and as a community. We are trying to teach those things because we have an opportunity to be good, but it is going to take a joint effort. My other thing is hard work and dedication because you have to believe in what you are doing and believe what you are trying to do. If we put those things in perspective, a lot of things are going to change and more people are going to want to participate in sports. Now, we are trying to grow other things in the community such as your recreational departments and little league football. When you start to get that going, then you will have an established culture.”
East Iberville Head Coach Peter Villia
Click HERE to read more of our 2024 GF Media Day previews!
You must be logged in to post a comment.