Louisiana OL coach DJ Looney tragically dies of heart attack at 31

Tragic news has struck the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns football program

Louisiana offensive line coach DJ Looney has died of a heart attack, per the school’s official Twitter account. He was just 31.

“The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Department of Athletics mourns the sudden loss of Louisiana Football assistant coach D.J. Looney, who passed away Saturday morning following a heart attack during a team workout at Cajun Field,” the team said via social media.

Looney was raised in the Birmingham, Alabama area and played his college football at Mississippi State. He then went into coaching as a graduate assistant at Georgia, and spent two separate tenures at Mississippi State, once under Dan Mullen, before eventually making his way to Louisiana.

The college football world is saddened by the loss of DJ Looney

Looney was entering his third season with Louisiana, and suffered the heart attack at a team workout. The governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, offered his condolences on Twitter.

“Louisiana mourns the loss of Coach D.J. Looney, who passed away this morning. Please join @FirstLadyOfLA and me in praying for his friends, family, players and the entire @RaginCajuns community during this difficult time,” Edwards wrote.

To lose a man with such an influence on the football community at such a young age is never easy, especially for a Louisiana program on the upswing. Looney aided Ragin Cajuns offensive linemen Robert Hunt and Kevin Dotson, who were drafted by the Miami Dolphins and Pittsburgh Steelers respectively. Louisiana had one of the nation’s top rushing attacks this past season.

Looney was considered a bright young minds in the world of coaching, making such a loss unthinkable. We wish his family the best.

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