Apparently, it’s not 100 percent official.

My non-verbal communications with people inside the UL softball program have led me to believe that it’s really, really close to being official that Michael Lotief either has or will resign as UL’s head softball coach.

Rumors have been circulating all day long that one of the nation’s elite softball programs is now without a head coach just one day before opening the 2013 season at a tournament in Houston.

Obviously, this development could not come at a worse time. Lotief has been on the UL softball coaching staff since 2001. He was a volunteer assistant for two seasons and had served as the co-head coach with wife, Stefni Lotief, since 2003 until last season.

After last year’s Super Regional loss at Arizona State, Stefni Lotief left the program to take a position as Ascension Episcopal High School in Youngsville, leaving Michael Lotief as the head coach.

The transition without his wife, and therefore his children constantly around the program, isn’t something that has been to Lotief’s liking. Making things worse is that last year’s pitching coach Joy Webre-LeBlanc resigned in December because of family issues that prevented her from helping ease the transition without Stefni Lotief in the program.

As a result, Michael Lotief has had to handle all the administrative duties behind the scenes, plus be the head coach, plus the hitting instructor and also dabble in pitch selection.

I’m certainly not aware of all of Lotief’s beefs with his current situation and/or his relationship with UL A.D. Scott Farmer, but apparently somebody is not on the same page here.

The bottom line is that if no last-second attempts to convince him to change his mind are successful, the 2013 Cajun softball team could be boarding a bus tomorrow morning headed for Houston without a head coach.

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