LAKE CHARLES – McNeese football head coach Lance Guidry has announced the hiring of two coaches that will fill out his coaching staff – Ben Norton as the offensive line coach who will also handle recruiting duties as well as the running game coordinator, and Wayne Cordova as the team's director of football operations while coaching the Buck safety position.
 
The moves are all subject to the approval of the Board of Supervisors of the University of Louisiana System, which includes McNeese.
 
Norton will replace Eman Naghavi who left for the same position at Louisiana-Monroe under former McNeese head coach Matt Viator while Cordova will take the reigns of a new spot.
 
"When losing a position coach this late, it's supposed to be hard to fill the position with high quality coaches," said Guidry. "Well, McNeese is fortunate to have landed Ben who is as good of a hire you can possibly as for at any time of the year."
 
Norton returns to McNeese after spending the last four seasons at Northwestern State, the last two as the program's offensive coordinator.
 
While at NSU, Norton led a unit that set six single-season team records, six individual single-game records, five individual career records and eight individual single-season team records.
 
In 2014, his offensive unit established new school records for total offensive (4,948), first downs (274), first downs via pass (140), completions (262), completion percentage (67.2), and passing yards (2,864).
 
In 2016, his offense led the Southland Conference in rushing at 190.5 yards per game while running back De'Mard Llorens topped the league individually with 85.3 yards per contest, on his way to first team all-SLC honors.
 
The Vidor, Texas native and 1993 graduate of Stephen F. Austin, Norton spent the 2005 and 2006 seasons at McNeese where he coached the defensive line in '05 before moving to the offensive line in 2006.
 
In 2006, McNeese led the Southland Conference in scoring offense (25.2) and ranked second in rushing (169.4) in helping lead the Cowboys to Southland Conference championship.
 
"We got someone who has been at McNeese before and has been successful as an offensive coordinator and offensive line coach," said Guidry. "He also has FBS and FCS experience as an offensive coordinator for 10 years plus. He's also been coaching the offensive line for at least 20 years.
 
"We needed a run game coordinator to go with an explosive passing game and it was great to be able to land a more than capable coach like Ben Norton."
 
Norton, who spent 1994-97 at Vanderbilt and LSU in the Southeastern Conference as a graduate assistant coach, got his first fulltime post at Eastern Illinois under venerable coach Bob Spoo in 1997-98, helping the Panthers crack the FCS Top 25 and assisting in the signing of future Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, a three-time Pro Bowl pick. Norton worked under legendary Ron Randleman from 1999-2004 at Sam Houston, helping the Bearkats reach the 2001 playoff quarterfinals and the 2004 semifinals as assistant head coach and offensive line coach.
 
Cordova, a linebacker for the Cowboys from 1996-99, was a member of the 1997 National Championship Runner-Up team and helped the Cowboys win the 1997 SLC championship while making two playoff appearances.
 
He spent the 2016 season at Newman High School where he was the defensive coordinator, and prior to that, was on the Tulane Green Wave staff for two years as the Director of Player Personnel-External Relations.
 
A native of the seventh ward, Cordova previously served as the head coach at St. Augustine (2006-2008) and served as an assistant coach at Destrehan (2012-2013) and Brother Martin (2009-2011). Cordova was serving as the Director of Player Personnel at Grambling (2013) when Curtis Johnson hired him at Tulane.
 
Cordova played at St. Augustine, graduating in 1996 before playing college football at McNeese.
 
"When we decided to choose Wayne as our Director of Football Operations, it not only brought back another former Cowboy but it also brought back a former player that had played in the 1997 National Championship game," said Guidry. "I wanted someone who not only would love coaching at McNeese but also had experience at the collegiate level in the player personnel department and be very familiar with operations.
 
"We also wanted a guy that had a broad knowledge of defensive football and we felt like we hit the trifecta in Wayne."