Gendusa retires as head coach at St. Martin’s, Dizer takes over program

Coming off a historic season, veteran coach Frank Gendusa decided it was time to turn the program he has built to being excellent to a good young coach.

Gendusa has announced his retirement as head football coach at St. Martin’s Episcopal, but will remain as athletic director for at least one more year.

Stepping in to take over as football coach is former Riverside Academy head coach Kevin Dizer, who was on the St. Martin’s staff last season.

“This was planned,” said Gendusa, who will turn 71 in April. “I’ve been at it for 44 years. This is the right time for me. We’re coming off a great year. The program is in good shape. I am at peace with myself. This is a sound decision. I will stay on as athletic director and take it a year at a time. I’m looking forward to doing some things. We have some things in place to upgrade our athletic facilities. You always want to make a difference and make a situation better than when you inherited it. That was always the goal.”

“We are so thankful for the success that Coach Gendusa’s leadership has brought to us these past several years,” interim head of school Rev. Dr. Michael Kuhn said in an email to supporters, “and I hope you will join me in thanking him!

“Our players respect (Dizer)and have already grown under his direction. We have only greater things to look forward to for our team and our School.

“As we begin this Mardi Gras break, we have much for which to give thanks. I am grateful for the thoughtful and respectful manner in which Coach Frank Gendusa has placed this program above even himself, and I am grateful that we will continue to thrive as a School athletically as well as academically.”

Gendusa spent 44 years in coaching on the high school level, including at Newman and at Fort Worth (Texas) Country Day, spending 13 years at the latter.

Prior to his work in Texas, Gendusa spent 24 years at Newman as a teacher, administrator and coach. Gendusa was the head coach at Newman from 1995-2004.

Gendusa spent the last five seasons at St. Martin’s as head coach.

Gendusa led the Saints to the Division IV state semifinals this past season for the first time in school history and was named the metro New Orleans Coach of the Year by the Greater New Orleans Quarterback Club, Crescent City Sports, NASH ICON 106.1 FM and Friday Night Football.

After serving as the head coach at Riverside Academy from 2018-21, Dizer joined Gendusa’s staff prior to last season and was hired as the heir apparent to take over the program.

“I could not be more blessed,” Dizer said. “It’s been a perfect marriage with a work/life balance at St. Martin’s. I am able to be a better father now. I am excited about our program from the outside looking in. Coach Gendusa started the process and now I’ve got the process of trying to continue it. Working with Frank was really good. We were in the same district competing against each other and we formed a friendship then. I saw the writing on the wall at Riverside. When we played each other in 2021, I told him before the game. He said, ‘why don’t you come over and work with me at Riverside?’ That is how it happened.”

A native of Sterlington, Dizer played at Sterlington High School, where he was a three-sport star, including football, basketball and track. Dizer was an outstanding defensive back and wide receiver for the Panthers.

Dizer starred at Belhaven, where he an all-conference wide receiver as a senior. He earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in sports administration at Belhaven.

Dizer began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Belhaven before returning to Sterlington as an assistant coach in 2014, spending two seasons at his alma mater before joining the staff at Riverside.

“I hired Kevin last year and told him I did not know how much longer I would coach,” Gendusa said. “He came in and did a great job. He’s a good coach and a good man. We set a goal of making the program successful in five years and we did so. Now, we hand it over. We’ve got the right guy in the right spot. He’s the kind of guy you want your son playing for.”

Dizer gets to coach a five-star talent in running back Harlem Berry, the No. 1-ranked prospect in Louisiana in the Class of 2025.

“There is so much more Harlem can do,” Dizer said. “We will use him some in the passing game and on defense but when push comes to shove, we will turn around and hand it off to him. Harlem is a better person than he is a talent. He’s going to make such a huge impact on this world as a person, more so than as an athlete but make no mistake about it. He is a special athlete. I am blessed to have him and blessed to have this job. I appreciate Frank and I appreciate Timmy Byrd at Riverside for giving me a chance to be a head coach.”