By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
Joe Raymond Peace had been out of coaching for a year and with time suddenly on his hands after 30 years in football, he began searching for something to do.
He had been at a friend’s house one day and noticed how neat and organized the pantry was. Suitably impressed, he went home and began organizing everything in his kitchen area – condiments, spices, etc. – in alphabetical order.
He waited for his wife Carolyn, who was still teaching at the time, to come home. “You’re not going to believe what I did,” he excitedly told her. “Come here, I’ve got to show you.”
His wife took one look and made an immediate proclamation. “That’s it,” she said. “It’s time for you to find something else to do.”
And that’s how Joe Raymond Peace, football coach, became Joe Raymond Peace, real estate agent.
It seems a little hard to believe that it’s been 30 years since Peace coached his last game at Louisiana Tech. He turned 80 years old in June, but he’s still going strong in the world of mortgages and escrow.
Instead to selling three-star prospects about the opportunities that college football can bring, he’s now spending his time selling prospective homeowners on the opportunities that a three-bedroom, two-bath brick house on a shaded cul-de-sac can bring.
“It’s a lot like recruiting and a lot like coaching, Peace said. “You’ve got to get buyers and sellers and I kind of liked that part of the college game. So it’s a good side job or career for me.”
Peace, a linebacker for Louisiana Tech in the mid-1960s, began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Northwestern State (1974-82). He came back to Ruston in 1983 with head coach A.L. Williams and a year later, the Bulldogs were in the Division 1-AA national championship game.
But things went south after Tech made the move to Division I-A in 1987 and first-year coach Carl Torbush bolted for North Carolina as defensive coordinator.
It was a slow rebuild – Tech lost 60-0 in Peace’s second game as head coach – but the Bulldogs had a winning record in his second year. Then came the 1990 season, which Peace describes as the highlight of his career.
Tech won seven of the last eight games of the season, including a 17-point rally against Colorado State that resulted in a 31-30 win and put Tech in the Independence Bowl.
The bowl game against Maryland had a record crowd of 48,325 as the Bulldogs got a 29-yard field goal on the last play of the game in a 34-all tie. “Tech really came out to support that night,” Peace said. “I think that kind of saved the bowl.”
The ’91 team went 8-1-2 but did not go to a bowl.
Peace would coach four more years. The ’95 team started 4-1 but lost five in a row (three games by one score) and Tech officials made a change by promoting offensive coordinator Gary Crowton to head coach.
And so began the life transition for Peace.
“It really didn’t take very long,” he said. “Certainly the first couple of years, you missed the players and going through the two-a-days and the games. But after a couple of years, I was making more money in the real estate business than I was in coaching. What a smart move I made.”
It’s certainly a different game than when Peace coached.
“I think it would have been tough to have to coach during this (era),” Peace said. “I don’t know that it will change or go back to something that will make more sense. It’s not that these high school guys are getting all this money. I’ve always thought these players should get paid. But this is kind of ridiculous what they are doing and it’s ruining the game.”
One of those players who has been involved in the recruiting business is Peace’s grandson J.P., a 6-3, 215-pound linebacker who recently committed to Tennessee. Not a bad bloodline – J.P. ‘s father Robert played at Tennessee in the early 2000s and his other grandfather is Phillip Fulmer, who coached the Vols to the national championship in 1998. Plus, his great uncle (Carolyn’s brother) in former NFL quarterback Joe Ferguson.
It’s not as if Joe Raymond spends all of his time worrying about the housing market. He spends plenty of time in Claiborne Parish, a 23-mile drive from his home in Ruston. “I’ve got deer, turkey and a little camp on it,” he says. “It’s got a 25-acre lake, so I fish and fool around there. It gives me something else to do. I’ve been so blessed.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com