Raymond Sindo Blanco (August 16, 1935 – November 19, 2022) was an American

academic administrator Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the Faculty (academic staff), faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach who served as the First Gentleman of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

from 2004 to 2008 during the gubernatorial tenure of his wife, then

Governor of Louisiana A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Kathleen Blanco Kathleen Marie Blanco (née Babineaux; December 15, 1942 – August 18, 2019) was an American politician who served as the 54th Governor of Louisiana from January 2004 to January 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first and, t ...

. Blanco, the first man to serve as First Gentleman of Louisiana, was also nicknamed "First Coach" during his tenure in the position. Blanco worked as an administrator at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette since 1982 until his retirement in 2009. He served as vice president for student affairs, responsible for coordinating various non-academic departments which relate directly to UL Lafayette students. He also served as a link between the student body and the university. He was known as "Coach" on the campus of UL Lafayette.

Early life

Raymond Blanco was born and raised in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. He received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

from the former St. Benedict's College (now part of Benedictine College) in Atchison, Kansas, in 1958. In football, Blanco served as assistant coach at Kirwin High School in

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

, and

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

at Catholic High School in

New Iberia, Louisiana New Iberia (french: La Nouvelle-Ibérie; es, Nueva Iberia) is the largest city in and parish seat of Iberia Parish, Louisiana, Iberia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The city of New Iberia is located approximately southeast of Lafayette, L ...

, between 1958 and 1962. In 1962 he led the Catholic High team to win the state championship. From 1963 to 1969, Blanco served as assistant coach at then-

University of Southwestern Louisiana The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

(USL), under the direction of coach Russ Faulkinberry. In 1969, he became Dean of Men. With the merger of the offices of the Dean of Men and Dean of Women, Blanco was named as USL's Dean of Student Personnel in 1972. In 1974 he became the Chief Student Officer for the university functioning as the Dean of Students and overseeing the operations of the entire student welfare area. As member of the University Council, he was responsible for the operations of the following areas: Student Personnel, University Police, Student Union, Counseling and Testing, International Students, Housing, Child Development Center, Career Services, Parking and Transit, One Card System, Intramurals, Student Health Services, Student Athlete Center, Physical Plant, Student Government, Campus Organizations, and Student Publications. From the fall of 1982 on, Mr. Blanco served in the capacity of Vice President for Student Affairs. Blanco's transition from football coach to Dean of Men came as a result of the university's need to find an administrator capable of understanding and quelling the severe student unrest which plagued USL (and universities around the country) in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanco, Raymond 1935 births 2022 deaths First ladies and gentlemen of Louisiana Louisiana Democrats American university and college faculty deans University of Louisiana at Lafayette people Benedictine College alumni Sportspeople from Birmingham, Alabama