Football | 4/4/2016 10:00:00 AM

One thousand, six hundred miles. For the past four years, that's the distance that Ron Antoine, the former running backs coach at Fresno State, lived away from his wife and family.
 
In 15 years of marriage, Ron and his wife Zenarae, the Texas State women's basketball head coach, have endured more than just the last four years apart. Eleven seasons, to be exact, where the two have had coaching jobs not within a short enough distance to live under the same roof.
 
With three children, including one under the age of two, it was starting to hit home how being that far away from his family wasn't going to cut it.
 
Then, a special phone call came.
 
"Coach Withers asked, 'Can you come see us tomorrow?'" Ron Antoine recalled. "I said, 'Of course, I can see you right away.'"
 
After an hour-long meeting with Withers and the offensive staff, Antoine didn't know what to expect. The answer arrived shortly afterwards as the Bobcats' newest head football coach extended a life-altering opportunity.
 
"I got a call maybe an hour or so later from Coach Withers," Ron Antoine said. "He said, 'Hey, this is what the deal is. It's a running backs, tight ends job. Would you like to be a part of this staff?'" "I said, 'Yes, coach, when do I need to be at work?'
 
He (Withers) said, 'Tomorrow at 7 a.m.'".
 
So at 7 a.m. that next day, Ron Antoine was headed to work to the South End Zone Complex at Bobcat Stadium rather than flying back to California to continue recruiting for Fresno State. The most ideal situation for the Antoine family was unfolding faster than anyone could imagine.
 
The wait for it, however, was well worth it.
 
"This is a blessing," Zenarae Antoine said. "This is amazing. I don't think anybody was happier than our parents because of our kids."
 
Living away from your spouse with three young children is a daunting task for just about anyone -- let alone two people with Division I coaching jobs.
 
Ron and Zenarae Antoine made their situation work as well as anyone could imagine.

 

Just because the kids -- seven-year-old twins Zachary and Zavier and 17-month-old Zayden lived in Texas with their mother -- that didn't mean they didn't get to enjoy some of the experiences their father had in California.
 
"We would go out there for two a days in August," Zenarae Antoine said. "When I got done recruiting in July, I'd go out there for two weeks and we'd sit there for two weeks and do the football thing. He was very blessed."
 
"The twins have done it all," Ron Antoine said. "They have been to bowl games in Vegas. They have been to bowl games in Hawaii. They've traveled with the basketball team. They've traveled with the football team. They've been in big time stadiums on the sideline. I can't really think of many things in college sports that those two guys have not done. They've had experiences from California to Hawaii to Alabama. They have been everywhere."

Now that Ron Antoine is back in Texas -- the place he calls home -- not only is he be able to watch his boys grow through the heart of their childhood, but he'll be able to put his coaching skills to work right here in San Marcos.

After having a successful career playing for Urban Meyer at Colorado State from 1993-96, Antoine has carried that success into the coaching ranks.
 
"I have had a lot of very good influences," Ron Antoine said. "A lot of my influences have come from the beginning and the coaches that I played for in Beaumont at Westbrook. Those guys, because of the way the high school coaches in Texas coach and what they demand from you, it shouldn't be a shock to the system of what it takes to be a winner once you get to college."
 
His coaching career began as a student assistant coach at Colorado State where the Rams won the 1997 WAC Championship and ended the season ranked No. 17 nationally after defeating No. 19 Missouri in the Holiday Bowl.
 
Before going to Fresno State, he made stops at Ohio as a graduate assistant and later as a receivers coach and passing game coordinator before a coaching at Elon, Wofford twice, Arkansas and South Alabama.
 
While he was at Fresno State, he produced two of the most productive wide receivers in school history in Davante Adams and Josh Harper.
 
Adams was named to eight All-America teams in 2013 after shattering Fresno State and Mountain West Conference records with 24 touchdown receptions. He led the nation with 24 touchdowns in 2013, which also marked the fourth highest total in FBS history.
 
That season Adams also led the nation with 131 receptions and was second nationally with 1,718 receiving yards. Harper netted back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons when he caught 79 passes for 1,011 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2013 and 90 passes for 1,097 yards and seven touchdowns in 2014.
 
With the help of coaches mentoring him early in his coaching career, he has a clear understanding of the culture being established by Withers at Texas State.
 
"The coaches that I played for in high school taught us how to be winners on and off the field," Ron Antoine said. "It is very similar to what Coach Withers teaches our guys."

Now that Ron Antoine is at Texas State as a Bobcat himself and not just by association, Zenarae Antoine is still pinching herself trying to believe that this dream has actually become a reality.

"Every day," Zenarae Antoine said. "Even now, I am like, 'Oh, he's going to leave to California'. Neither of us have adjusted yet. He's happy to be home with the family."
 
While living under the same roof again will be an adjustment, the Antoine family couldn't be any happier for how life has unfolded in the past few months.