HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University head football coach Mike Lucas announced Monday that Amite native Sam Petitto has been named as an assistant football coach.
The hiring of Petitto, who was a member of former Southeastern head coach Hal Mumme's coaching staff in 2003, is subject to approval from the University of Louisiana Board of Supervisors.
“We've known Sam for a long time and he was a guy that we kept tabs on,” Lucas said. “When he was at Grambling, he did a great job in recruiting in this area. He's a local guy who brings a lot of experience and energy to our staff and will help us in recruiting Louisiana players.
“Sam's done a great job the last couple of years with stops at North Carolina and Alabama. He's worked to increase his knowledge of secondary play and we're excited to have him for his expertise in the secondary and the ability to recruit in-state players.”
Prior to his return to his native state, Petitto served as a defensive graduate assistant at Alabama under Nick Saban. He spent the 2007 campaign at North Carolina under Butch Davis where he worked as a defensive graduate assistant before becoming the Tar Heels' Director of Player Personnel under the direction of Associate Head Coach John Blake.
Petitto spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Grambling where he coached defensive backs and served as the Tigers' recruiting coordinator. He helped Grambling to the 2005 Black College National Championship and his secondary ranked first in the Southwestern Athletic Conference in five categories.
Before his first stint at Southeastern, where he was helped the school return to the gridiron after dropping the program after the 1985 season, Petitto had success in the Louisiana high school ranks with stops at Class 1A Kentwood (1998), Class 3A Amite (1999) and Class 4A Salmen High (2000). During his first three seasons in the high school ranks, Petitto helped each school to the Louisiana state championship, with identical 15-0 records at Kentwood and Amite – his alma mater.
Petitto earned his degree from the University of Louisiana-Monroe in 1998 after attending Southwest Mississippi Community College on a baseball scholarship.
TRANSACTIONS – Named Sam Petitto assistant football coach
