Hammond High head football coach Rusty Barrilleaux issued his resignation as the Tors’ head coach, Hammond Principal Carmon Moore announced on Friday.

Barrilleaux resigned as of Wednesday, five days after The Tors completed an 0-8 season with a 34-13 loss to Ponchatoula, Hammond's first loss in the series against its archrival in 10 years.

Barrilleaux served as the Tors’ head coach for three seasons, posting a 5-23 record with no playoff appearances. He previously had served as the Tors’ offensive coordinator under Moore, who acknowledged that a change was in order.

“Sometimes it's veery lonely at the top when your responsibilities require you to make a tough decision that hurts someone you care a great deal about,” Moore said Friday.

“The ultimate success of a football program rests on the shoulders of our head football coach. After much thought and deliberation, I feel it's necessary to move in another direction to get our program on a more successful path.”

Barrilleaux said his thoughts were with the Tors themselves after their hard work was not rewarded with a win this season.

“It was unfortunate that those kids didn't get a victory,” Barrilleaux said. “They worked hard and really put forth a good effort, and I hated that for them a lot more than I hated that for me.

“You're never going to have everybody totally happy,” Barrilleaux added. “But this is about those kids, about them learning how to grow up and handle situations and become men and play a great game like football.”

Moore said the rumor mill was already swirling but said there is not heir apparaent identified yet. He said he expects to have a better timetable after he consults with school board members and officials concerning the objective hiring criteria and other procedures.

“Rumors fly all over the place, from (Ponchatoula assistant coach Hank) Tierney, to me coming back, all kind of names flying around,” Moore said. “But honest to goodness I don't really don't know (who will be hired).”

But Moore did say there is an urgency to getting someone in place. He and assistant coach Chris Hill have already started on a weight training program and Moore is hoping to enticve more athletes to come out for football from the student body. As a 5A school, Moore thinks Hammond needs to have in the neighborhood of 100 players out for football.

“That's the kind of numbers you've got to have, and I do believe in 5A that it's a numbers game if you're going to compete,” Moore said. “So we've got to get more numbers and we've got to get stronger; those two things right off the bat.

“Hey, six of the eight teams in our district are in the playoffs; they're practicing right now. So if they're practicing and we're doing nothing, we're getting farther behind for next year,” Moore added.

Barrilleaux understands the desire for a change, but he also warns that it's going to be tough to revive the program if the community doesn't get behind the team.

“I think (we need) support,” Barrilleaux said. “The kids want it, and you've got some good young talent there. I just think it needs support, and that's overall — from the school, for the administration, from the town, from everything. They need to know that the people are behind them and people care.”

Moore said Barrilleaux has asked for a transfer to another school and Moore said he will try to accommodate him.

Rusty and I are very close and so this has been tough on me and him, too,” Moore said. “I encouraged him to consider staying in the business, because I think he's a good coach. I know he was a big part of my success and I don't want to take anything away from him.”