Fort Vancouver hires former Cougar, Seahawk Steve Broussard as head coach

“We are excited to have Steve Broussard, with his wealth of experience and knowledge, in the Fort Vancouver athletic program,” said John Schultz, the school’s athletic director.

Schultz said he met with several candidates. Broussard shined throughout the interview process with his “passion for kids and enthusiasm.”

Broussard was asked to apply for other jobs at other programs.

“He said, ‘I want to be at Fort.’ That’s huge,” Schultz said.

“He wants to give back and get our program back to the place it needs to be,” Schultz said. “He’s excited to work for our kids and elevate our program, which is something we are very excited about.”

Broussard said he can relate to the students at Fort. They remind him of his upbringing in Los Angeles.

“Fort felt more like home. It brought me back,” he said. “I knew the impact my high school head coach had on me personally. He believed in us.”

Now Broussard is telling the Trappers he believes in them.

Fort Vancouver football has not won more than two games in a season since 2007. The program has had six coaching changes since 2001, including two stints from Cal Szueber, who had been the head coach the past three seasons.

“I just want to see if I can make an impact, get these kids going, get them believing, and just get them to have some fun,” Broussard said.

A 1990 NFL first-round draft choice of the Falcons, Broussard played in Atlanta for four years before joining the Cincinnati Bengals for a season. He spent his last four years in the league with the Seahawks, scoring a career-high six touchdowns in 1997.

Broussard spent the late 1980s at Washington State. He had back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He was named the conference’s player of the year as a senior in 1989 after leading the Pac-10 with 16 touchdowns. In 2015, Broussard was inducted into Washington State’s athletic hall of fame.