Former VC head coach, who coached team to Class 1A state title, dies at 59

A former head football coach at Vermilion Catholic for three years, Charlie Cryer, passed away Tuesday morning in Houma.
He was 59.
Cryer coached at VC from 2002 to 2004. He was the head coach when the VC Eagles beat Kentwood in the Class 1A finals to win the school’s first football state title.
At the time of his death, he was an assistant football coach at Vandebilt Catholic in Houma.
Cryer was a high school coach for 31 years and grew up in Shreveport, where he was a stand-out high school football player at Woodlawn High School.
He played football at LSU under former LSU head football coach Bo Rein.
In March of 2019, Cryer was diagnosed with Non-Alcoholic Cirrhosis of the liver. He received a new liver two years ago.
Current Vermilion Catholic head football coach and VC alumnus Broc Prejean played for Cryer from his freshmen year to his junior year. He received word that his former head coach died Tuesday morning.
“We all loved that man,” said Prejean. “He was to us players what a high school coach should be. He just loved his players, scolded them like they were his kids but celebrated them the same.
“He never had a bad day out there with us, and what he did for us players and our community in such a short time was truly special. For the most part, the entirety of that 2003 football team is still very close friends and sees each other, and that’s largely credited to Coach Cryer making us an actual family.”
Prejean said the players had a special relationship with him and his family.
“He and his wife would call and text all the time just to say ‘we’re proud of you,’ and when you hear it in his big bellowing voice, it just had a different feel to it. It’s a big loss to everyone who had the pleasure of being around that man. Just praying for Mrs. Kristie, Kacie, Cody, and Chris and the rest of his family.”
Cryer began his coaching career in Cumming, GA in 1989.
He was hired as the first-ever head football coach for a new school (South Forsyth High School) and coached there until 1997.
The family moved back to Louisiana, where he has coached at a few high schools in Louisiana (Merryville, Oberlin, Acadiana Prep, Northwest, St. Mary’s, St. Louis, and Pope John Paul II).
Last year, after three years, he stepped down as Pope John Paul II head coach.
While at Pope John Paul II, he went through three rough seasons and a boatload of health problems, including a liver transplant.
Cryer spent the first two games of the 2019 season in a golf cart coaching from behind the end zone before Chris took over as the head coach.
He spent 15 seasons as a head coach and finished with an 87-64 overall record, including a Class 1A state championship at Vermilion Catholic in 2003.
On Sept. 30, 2020, Cryer was interviewed by the Advocate newspaper before his third season at Pope John Paul II.
The writer asked Cryer what moment sticks out in high school career.
Cryer said winning the state championship at VC.
“Yeah, the state championship at VC in ’03 was great. It was before the split, and we beat a great team in Kentwood (10-6), and my years at St. Mary’s in Natchitoches were great because my son played for me. Both my boys played for me, and we were pretty solid at St. Mary’s.
“I went to St. Louis because it was a good opportunity, and I have been known to go to programs that weren’t very solid and help them out and turn them around a little bit. I did that at VC and I did it at St. Mary’s, and I enjoy that challenge.
“Still, though, I would have to say the state championship was really special. No one thought we could beat Kentwood, and we did. It was a big upset. Those kids are in their late 30s now, and I stay in touch with them. It was a great time.”