LAFAYETTE (KATC) — As Louisiana prepares to host Coastal Carolina Saturday, there is an understanding that there is something bigger going on. The Chanticleers remain displaced by Hurricane Florence and have spent the last week living in Jacksonville, Florida.
This weekend Louisiana Athletics will collect donations to send back with Coastal to aide victims of the storm. But when will the team return to Myrtle Beach? As long as campus remains closed the team will stay on the road.
Currently more than 200 players, staff members and even some pets are living out of a hotel in Jacksonville. The team practices locally preparing for Saturday night’s game. This week the team will travel to Baton Rouge ahead of the game game.
The reality Coastal Carolina is living is a familiar story many Cajuns know too well. Nearly 80 players on Louisiana’s roster are from Louisiana, including a dozen from New Orleans. Senior defensive back Corey Turner recalls being displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“It was tough,” he said Wednesday about moving to Atlanta after the storm. “We had to move away from home for a year. No place to go for a year. My family had to rebuild and it was really tough, but we made it through.”