University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2026: Nelson Stokley
10/16/2026 9:00:00 AM | Football, Athletics
The fifth in a five-part series on the 2026 UL Athletics Hall of Fame Class
There were always two sides to Nelson Stokley, which likely helped make him the longest-tenured football coach in UL history.
There was the serene, tranquil man, the one who let his coaches coach and was successful when sitting in the living rooms of top Acadiana-area recruits. And then there was that other guy, the one who friends and acquaintances call the most competitive person they ever met.
"He was a quiet guy until he wasn't," said Gerald Broussard, who was the only UL coach that was on Stokley's staff for all of his 13 years. "He let you coach, he didn't mess with you as an assistant, and when he needed to be in a home he was awesome. And he was so much fun to be around.
"But when you weren't doing things the way he wanted, he had a way of getting your attention quick. He'd drop a bomb on you in a second. But later on we'd be laughing and joking again, and he let us do our thing even though he was so sharp and had all that knowledge."
That knowledge and personality helped the Crowley native and national championship winner while at Clemson create many memorable moments after he took over the Cajun program in 1986. Included in that were a pair of conference titles and arguably the biggest win in UL football history in 1996 when UL beat Texas A&M at Cajun Field.
Those successes make Stokley only the second football coach to be inducted into the UL Athletic Hall of Fame, with that induction on Friday, Oct. 16, part of a weekend of Hall of Fame activities that includes the Cajuns' fourth home game of the season against Troy on Saturday, Oct. 17. He will be inducted along with baseball standout Dylan Moore, women's basketball standard setter Tenna Cooper, three-time All-American triple jumper Lawrence Willis and football standout Fred Stamps at the Friday night ceremony.
Tickets for the induction to be held at the McElligott Club at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium are available from the Ragin' Cajun Athletic Foundation at RCAF@louisiana.edu or by calling (337) 851-7223.
Stokley becomes the fourth father-son/daughter pair to receive UL's highest athletic honor along with son and record-setting wide receiver Brandon Stokley who was inducted in 2008.
Stokley's career record stood at 62-80-1 in his 13 Cajun seasons, but the caveats to those numbers would fill volumes. For most of his career, his teams played an independent schedule with no conference affiliation, and were forced to play against more established programs who were also independents at the time and now are members of Power 4 leagues.
His squads also faced power conference teams in "money" games, almost all of them on the road – 20 games against SEC teams including three in one season alone, and eight against Big 12 teams. In his final two years, Stokley's teams played eight preseason top-25 teams and eight that wound up in bowl games, all on the road. His all-time record at Cajun Field was 38-26-1.
More importantly, in the three years that Stokley's teams were actual conference members, as part of its brief football membership in the Big West Conference from 1993-95, the Cajuns shared the Big West title twice and tied for second in the third year. His record in those three years was 20-13 including a 14-4 mark against the Big West.
"We knew the challenge we were in," Broussard said. "We were in the league those three years and it was a different world. We were just going to play whoever we had to and go and make money. Our guys were really competitive, just like their coach. Those other years we didn't have a lot to compete for, but we knew what the challenge was and our guys never backed down from a challenge."
Stokley's teams never had a bowl opportunity, losing out on the Big West's bowl bid on tiebreakers both of those title years including being passed over in 1993 with an 8-3 record. That team won eight of its last nine with the only loss at ninth-ranked Florida.
Stokley was named Coach of the Year in the Big West and in Louisiana that season, which was his first year out of the dual athletic director-head coach role that he filled for six years. He was the last staffer at UL to fill that dual role.
The former 12-letter winner at Crowley High helped lead LSU to two bowl wins in his three varsity years, and later served as offensive coordinator at Clemson in six years that included three conference titles and the 1981 national championship. Four years later, the cover of UL's 1996 football media guide read, "A Louisiana Classic Comes Home."
"He had subtle competitiveness, but it was always there," Broussard said. "We were at a camp in Gueydan as a staff once and we decided we were going to skeet shoot. We had guys on the staff who were real outdoorsmen, true hunters, and he (Stokley) never hunted. But he picked up a gun and hit nine out of 10 the first time he ever did that."
Broussard also talked about his fierce loyalty, saying one of the proudest moments in his life came when Stokley asked him to change positions and coach wide receivers.
"I didn't look anything like a wide receiver," said the former offensive line standout. "He'd point at me whenever anyone asked who coached the wide outs. But the greatest thing anyone ever said to me in coaching was when he said he wanted me to coach Brandon. That tells you something about what kind of man he was."
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There was the serene, tranquil man, the one who let his coaches coach and was successful when sitting in the living rooms of top Acadiana-area recruits. And then there was that other guy, the one who friends and acquaintances call the most competitive person they ever met.
"He was a quiet guy until he wasn't," said Gerald Broussard, who was the only UL coach that was on Stokley's staff for all of his 13 years. "He let you coach, he didn't mess with you as an assistant, and when he needed to be in a home he was awesome. And he was so much fun to be around.
"But when you weren't doing things the way he wanted, he had a way of getting your attention quick. He'd drop a bomb on you in a second. But later on we'd be laughing and joking again, and he let us do our thing even though he was so sharp and had all that knowledge."
That knowledge and personality helped the Crowley native and national championship winner while at Clemson create many memorable moments after he took over the Cajun program in 1986. Included in that were a pair of conference titles and arguably the biggest win in UL football history in 1996 when UL beat Texas A&M at Cajun Field.
Those successes make Stokley only the second football coach to be inducted into the UL Athletic Hall of Fame, with that induction on Friday, Oct. 16, part of a weekend of Hall of Fame activities that includes the Cajuns' fourth home game of the season against Troy on Saturday, Oct. 17. He will be inducted along with baseball standout Dylan Moore, women's basketball standard setter Tenna Cooper, three-time All-American triple jumper Lawrence Willis and football standout Fred Stamps at the Friday night ceremony.
Tickets for the induction to be held at the McElligott Club at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium are available from the Ragin' Cajun Athletic Foundation at RCAF@louisiana.edu or by calling (337) 851-7223.
Stokley becomes the fourth father-son/daughter pair to receive UL's highest athletic honor along with son and record-setting wide receiver Brandon Stokley who was inducted in 2008.
Stokley's career record stood at 62-80-1 in his 13 Cajun seasons, but the caveats to those numbers would fill volumes. For most of his career, his teams played an independent schedule with no conference affiliation, and were forced to play against more established programs who were also independents at the time and now are members of Power 4 leagues.
His squads also faced power conference teams in "money" games, almost all of them on the road – 20 games against SEC teams including three in one season alone, and eight against Big 12 teams. In his final two years, Stokley's teams played eight preseason top-25 teams and eight that wound up in bowl games, all on the road. His all-time record at Cajun Field was 38-26-1.
More importantly, in the three years that Stokley's teams were actual conference members, as part of its brief football membership in the Big West Conference from 1993-95, the Cajuns shared the Big West title twice and tied for second in the third year. His record in those three years was 20-13 including a 14-4 mark against the Big West.
"We knew the challenge we were in," Broussard said. "We were in the league those three years and it was a different world. We were just going to play whoever we had to and go and make money. Our guys were really competitive, just like their coach. Those other years we didn't have a lot to compete for, but we knew what the challenge was and our guys never backed down from a challenge."
Stokley's teams never had a bowl opportunity, losing out on the Big West's bowl bid on tiebreakers both of those title years including being passed over in 1993 with an 8-3 record. That team won eight of its last nine with the only loss at ninth-ranked Florida.
Stokley was named Coach of the Year in the Big West and in Louisiana that season, which was his first year out of the dual athletic director-head coach role that he filled for six years. He was the last staffer at UL to fill that dual role.
The former 12-letter winner at Crowley High helped lead LSU to two bowl wins in his three varsity years, and later served as offensive coordinator at Clemson in six years that included three conference titles and the 1981 national championship. Four years later, the cover of UL's 1996 football media guide read, "A Louisiana Classic Comes Home."
"He had subtle competitiveness, but it was always there," Broussard said. "We were at a camp in Gueydan as a staff once and we decided we were going to skeet shoot. We had guys on the staff who were real outdoorsmen, true hunters, and he (Stokley) never hunted. But he picked up a gun and hit nine out of 10 the first time he ever did that."
Broussard also talked about his fierce loyalty, saying one of the proudest moments in his life came when Stokley asked him to change positions and coach wide receivers.
"I didn't look anything like a wide receiver," said the former offensive line standout. "He'd point at me whenever anyone asked who coached the wide outs. But the greatest thing anyone ever said to me in coaching was when he said he wanted me to coach Brandon. That tells you something about what kind of man he was."
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