Scott O’Brien, the state championship winning coach of the Archbishop Chapelle softball team, was selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s
New Orleans Girls Prep Coach of the Year for 2023-24. The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, selects annual award winners in a variety of categories; it also selects
Sugar Bowl Athletes of the Month and each year’s
Hall of Fame class. The Sports Awards Committee has recognized outstanding high school coaches for the New Orleans area since 1962. O’Brien is the first Chapelle coach to be honored by the Sugar Bowl
O’Brien directed the Chipmunks to their first softball state championship with an impressive run through the LHSAA Division I Select state tournament bracket. Fifth-seeded Chapelle took down No. 12 Woodlawn (15-0) in the regional, then stopped No. 4 Mt. Carmel (5-3) in the quarterfinals. The semifinals were a showdown with No. 1 St. Thomas More, which eliminated the Chipmunks in last year’s semifinals – this time around Chapelle posted a 3-2 victory in extra innings. The state championship game was a showdown with No. 2 John Curtis, a team that had consistently beaten the Chipmunks in recent years, and Chapelle (23-7) again took care of business, winning 2-1. Star pitcher Kayla Giardina led the team, with her bat as well as her arm, throughout the tournament and was named the Most Outstanding Player. It was just the second trip to a state championship game for the Chipmunks – they lost in the finals in 2004.
“Don’t focus on the results, focus on the process,” O’Brien said after earning the first state title for Chapelle softball. “That’s what we were preaching. It’s truly a story about talent plus hard work, overcoming, and perseverance. This trophy is very difficult to get; I’m honored and proud of [the team’s] process and what they did. It was amazing.”
In addition to O’Brien, the finalists for the
New Orleans Girls Prep Coach of the Year honor were
Rebekka Bonnaffee (Archbishop Hannan Volleyball),
Jessica Chatellier (Dominican Volleyball), and
Eric Smith (Warren Easton Track & Field). Bonnaffee directed Hannan to a 46-3 overall record, the top seed in the LHSAA Division III state tournament, and its third state title in the last four years. Chatellier led Dominican to its fourth straight LHSAA Division I state championship with a thrilling four-set triumph over No. 2 Mount Carmel. Smith guided to the LHSAA Class 4A Outdoor Track & Field Championship in May – it’s the first time in 25 years that a New Orleans public school has captured a Louisiana state track and field championship.
The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee came together when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month and a variety of annual award winners. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the top amateur athlete in the Greater New Orleans area each month as well as a range of annual awards – the honors enter their 68th year in 2024.
The
Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 29 national champions, 107 Hall of Fame players, 52 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 90-year history. The 91st Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Quarterfinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2025. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.5 billion into the local economy in the last decade.
