Hi, my name is Andrew Lotz and I’m the newest contributing writer for the Canal Street Chronicles as well as And The Valley Shook. As a lifelong football obsessive, this opportunity immediately jumped out at me, and I couldn’t be more excited to begin covering my two favorite teams in all of sports, the New Orleans Saints and LSU Tigers.
Growing Up
My love for football began as a member of the Versailles Cardinals while I attended St. Mark Catholic School in Chalmette. Strip sacking a Carolyn Park quarterback
at the ripe age of 5 was the exact moment I knew I liked this game and wanted to be the next Rickey Williams (Prime Run Ricky Run days). As a proud native of THE St. Bernard Parish, when my family decided to relocate to the DFW area after Katrina, my love for football was heightened as I was now able to embrace the outsider role amidst all the Cowboys fans that surrounded me on a daily basis. I also quickly learned that Texas football is as serious as advertised and quickly joined the year-round rotation of tackle in the fall and flag in the spring. Luckily for me, my baseball background melded nicely with my new favorite sport as by the age of 9, I was the quarterback for my local “Cowboys” youth team. Through the years I was lucky enough to keep working to get better and eventually became the starting quarterback at my high school for my junior and senior years.
A Team Sport
High School football was where I really began to cultivate relationships around the game of football which have evolved into lifelong friendships. The team dynamic became my favorite part of playing as we were constantly preached to about how the true beauty of football is the requirement of all 11 players on the field to work together at all times and embrace unselfishness for the greater good of the team. This theme was easy to understand as I had watched Drew Brees live that ethos and carry my hometown team through the most successful run in Saints history.
Furthered Education
At LSU football summer camp as a freshman in high school, Les Miles gave a speech that changed the way I looked at life. The quote from Coach Miles that stuck with me as a highly competitive adolescent was, “You should compete harder in the classroom than on the football field” which lit a fire in my otherwise absent intellectual curiosity. From that day on my competitive spirit led me to a love and appreciation for multiple subjects with math at the top of the list. In college, that interest in math and desire to work in a creative field led me to pursue and obtain a bachelor’s degree in information systems and a master’s degree in data Analytics, both from Texas Lutheran University where I played quarterback and some tight end throughout my 4 seasons with the team.
Football as an Adult
At TLU, I was blessed to be coached by some very smart coaches over a 5-year span and developed a love for learning about the game and every facet of how a team operates. In my final year of graduate school, I became an offensive assistant for the football team and began to set my sights on a professional career in the football world. Throughout my professional career, the itch to be involved with the game carried me to Houston where I worked on the business side of the Texans organization followed by an assistant role in TCU’’s recruiting and scouting department. After spending a season strictly as a fan, the constant desire to be involved in the game has now led me to CSC and ATV and I couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity. I look forward to being able to share my passions for football, creativity, and continuous learning while also dusting the cobwebs off writing skills that haven’t seen much action since an intro to creative writing class circa 2016.
