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NATCHEZ – Famed Louisiana sports broadcaster Jacques Doucet of WAFB in Baton Rouge came to Natchez to sit down with Miss-Lou Champions Spotlight host Ronnie Calhoun this week to talk about all things relating to LSU football.

The event, held Tuesday at Smoot’s Grocery, also included a Q&A from the audience and live music by Mark Vidrine.

Doucet has been with WAFB since 2001 and has won many accolades, including twice being named  Louisiana Sportscaster of the Year; being a two-time Emmy winner for “Eye on the Title” LSU football live special (2019) and “Lionel Thomass: A Tiger’s Tale” feature (2021); and 2019 American Legion Good Citizen Award. 

“Me and Jacques go back like 15 to 20 years, back in our Baton Rouge days,” Calhoun said. “It was just nice bringing these types of people into my hometown.”

During the talk, Doucet mentioned some former LSU coaches such as Nick Saban, Les Miles, and Ed Orgeron. He talked about Saban’s impact on the LSU football program, the interesting stories surrounding Miles, and the stacked 2019 team that Orgeron built. Along with this, Doucet talked about the current state of the program with Brian Kelly and the expectations for the upcoming season. 

“I think that Brian Kelly is much more organized and intelligent than the previous two coaches combined,” Doucet said. 

Along with the football chat, both speakers discussed the plans for a new arena in Baton Rouge. 

“Baton Rouge gets flown over all the time with Lafayette and New Orleans because they have the Cajun dome, and New Orleans has the Smoothie King Center and the Superdome. So we are not getting great concerts in Baton Rouge. So, they need a 15,000 seat arena like when I want to go and cover the LSU Women’s basketball game like when they played South Carolina a couple of years ago,” Doucet said. 

During the Q&A session, Doucet was asked about his relationship with players and coaches.

“Nobody wants to be misinterpreted or misrepresented, and I think that that’s very important on how I resent things. Now, it’s my job to get you interested, to read something, and to have a good quote or something that you’re going to read, but it’s not taken out of context, or it’s not sensational or whatever,” Doucet said.