Raymond "Coach" Blanco
Louisiana First Gentleman

Louisiana First Gentleman Raymond "Coach" Blanco will open the 2006 NACDA Convention on Wednesday, June 21 and introduce Keynote Speaker James Carville.

Blanco served as an assistant football coach at Kirwin High School in Galveston, Texas and head football coach at Catholic High School in New Iberia, Louisiana from 1958-62. In 1962, he led the Catholic High team to the state championship. From 1963-69 Blanco served as an assistant football coach at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL), now the University of Louisiana Lafayette, under the direction of Coach Russ Faulkinberry.

In 1969, Blanco became the dean of men. Due to a merger of the offices of the Dean of Men and Dean of Women, Blanco was named USL's dean of student personnel in 1972. Two years later, he was named chief student officer for the university, functioning as the dean of students and overseeing the operations of the entire student welfare area.

A member of the University Council (which consists of the president and four vice presidents) Blanco is 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. Since the fall of 1982, Blanco has served in the capacity of vice president for student affairs. His duties have remained unchanged.

Blanco's transition from football coach to dean of men was the result of the university's need to find an administrator capable of understanding and quelling the severe student unrest which plagued then USL (and universities around the country) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Successful with his initial task, he has consistently stayed at the forefront of his field by employing an innovative philosophy in all phases of his operations. He is particularly recognized for his contributions in the areas of minority hiring and emergency task forces.

Blanco received his B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science from St. Benedict's College in Kansas in 1958. He is married to Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.