After 35 years as head coach of the Franklnton High School baseball program, Jeff Tageant is retiring. The current 2023 season will be his last.
Coach Tageant will throw out the honorary first pitch for the Demons this Friday at Demon Diamond as the FHS season and Tageant’s career come to a close. The first pitch -- and the final game --- are expected to be emotional for the long-time coach, his family, and his current and past players.
Jeff Tageant grew up in the shadows of "Doc's" Diamond where his dad, the late Robert J. Tageant served as the Demon skipper from 1967 until his untimely death in 1972.
A 1982 graduate of Franklinton High School, Tageant was a 3-year baseball starter for Coach Dewitt Perry. He also was a 2-year starter on the Demon Football team that played for the State championship in the first ever Superdome Classic in 1981 for Coach Donald Currier.
After returning to his roots, Tageant was responsible for many improvements to Doc's Diamond since 1989 before moving the program to a new facility on the FHS campus. He is also credited with commissioning the design of the Flaming F, the official logo of FHS.
FHS baseball has gained a reputation for success, and Tageant has been named District Coach-of-the-Year 15 times in his 35 years as head coach.
The Demons have maintained a winning tradition by averaging 16 wins per season during Tageant's tenure.
He has served as President of the Louisiana Baseball Coaches Association and was an assistant coach on the 2009 LBCA All-Star Team. Tageant received the prestigious Tony Robichaux Award, voted on by coaches around the state for his ethics, character and respect to the game.
He is currently a member of the LBCA Executive Board.
Tageant has been married for 35 years to Toni, a retired English teacher at FHS, and they have two sons and daughters-in-law, Evan and Emily and Clay and Katelyn. He has one granddaughter, Fallon Reese.
Evan was a member of the 2014 SEC Champion LSU Tiger baseball staff, a graduate of LSU and currently the head baseball coach at Belle Chasse High School. Clay spent his junior and senior years on the pitching staff as a middle reliever for the Southern Miss Conference USA Champion Golden Eagles. Clay has been an assistant Demon coach since 2018. In June 2012, both were on the Div II JUCO National Championship Team from LSU Eunice. One of Coach Tageant's greatest honors was coaching both his sons during their high school careers.
Tageant is a long-time member of Franklinton's First Baptist Church. He and Toni especially enjoy spending time with their two year old granddaughter Fallon, and "granddogs," German shepherds Kane and Kyzar. But even in retirement he still plans to do some hanging around Demon Diamond and helping out when he can.
