NEW ORLEANS - Like Creole cuisine and JazzFest, Jabbar Juluke was born in New Orleans.

The Crescent City original wasn't able to take his hometown north to Ruston when he was named Louisiana Tech's running backs coach three years ago. But he has been able to offer some valuable pieces of the place a temporary home away from home.

Nearly 20 student-athletes on Tech's two-deep roster are from Juluke's Acadiana recruiting region. He was the point man on recruiting at least a dozen of those student-athletes, and all of them did a touchdown dance when Tech accepted a bid to play in the New Orleans Bowl Saturday at 8 p.m. against Sunbelt champ Arkansas State in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

"They're so happy to get the opportunity to play in front of their family and friends, to go back to a city that means a lot to every one of them," said Juluke. "This is a chance to show their maturity since being in college, even if it's been only one season; it's a chance to represent their families and their school."

Besides a chance for Juluke to compete in the Superdome for the 10th time ââ'¬" three times as a player, and now for the seventh time as a coach -- it's also his chance to spend a few bowl-season days in the city that holds his heart.

"I knew from a really young age that New Orleans was different from other places," Juluke said. "Mardi Gras. The architecture. The food. Finding any reason to second line dance. The music. That's all part of my heritage. New Orleans is a very special place."

He would know. Juluke's first breath was in Charity Hospital. The backdrop for his little-boy years was the St. Bernard Housing Development in Seventh Ward. High school at St. Augustine, college up the road at Southern University, then back for 18 years as a prep coach in his favorite town. Juluke couldn't be more Crescent City if he were a bowl of dirty rice.

"Born and bred, his momma, his whole family," said Rocky Weilbaecher, the athletics director at Edna Karr High and Juluke's AAU coach on their 1989 nationals team, back when the teen was such a good defender that Rocky put him on a young future NBA All-Star named Penny Hardaway. "He's from the bricks, from the projects, and he wants to make sure everybody does it right."

To understand "doing it right" is to understand how Juluke played the game, first at St. Aug and later as the senior safety on Southern University's 1993 Black National Championship team.

He was "a pleasure to coach," said Weilbaecher, "a rare (basketball) player as a defender who could flat-out guard anybody. Put him in the middle of a full-court press and he could smell the pass and pick it off." As a safety, he was "a tough-nosed terror who'd light people up."

"When we got the chance to get him at Karr to coach, that was hitting the jackpot," Weilbaecher said. "It was the same thing then that it is now when he's recruiting: you put a kid in his hands, the kid's going to be safe. If he makes a promise, he'll keep it."

"I knew I wanted to coach right out of high school," Juluke said. "As a free safety, you're the quarterback of the defense. Most every guy thought he was going to the NFL. What I concentrated on was being a leader, making sure everyone was in the right place and knew the job they had to do. That feeling...I just knew I had found something I wanted to do.

"Plus there was the impact my coaches had on me, I mean all the way back to pee wee, through college. Those people made the most impact on my life; I wanted to impact kids like they'd done for me."

That's the other part of doing it right: recognizing what life means and finding a way to celebrate it.

"I'm fortunate to be a part of somebody's life," Juluke said. "I'm not here for the short term; I'm here for the long term. The kids we have are going to be safe. College is going to be unfamiliar to them, but I hope in me they see a guy who speaks the same language, who understands their hometown culture. Sure, they can get lonely and homesick; that's when we have kids over to the house, to enjoy some home-cooked food."

The attitude, the resume, the look -- solid with a charismatic smile and more skull caps than he can count -- only add to the aura that makes Juluke a big deal, something of a living legend on the New Orleans prep scene. To this generation's high schoolers, he's the football version of étouffée and crawfish bisque. It's what's drawn starters like O'Shea Dugas, a true freshman guard from Northside in Lafayette, and receiver/kick returner Carlos Henderson, a redshirt sophomore from McDonough 35 in New Orleans, to Ruston.

"He's New Orleans through and through, loves people and the kids love him," said former Times-Picayune sportswriter Bill Bumgarner. "He's a great recruiter for this area, can talk to anybody and everybody. It's hard to feel down when you talk to Juluke."

His leaving Edna Karr for Tech was bittersweet for Weilbaecher, although he knew the step to college was the right thing. "He was content to coach high school for the next 30 years," Weilbaecher said. "He was truly not a guy looking for the 'next step.' At one point he told me, 'I'm not going.' It was a tough call, but it was something I urged him to do. He had to go, for him and for his family. But that's him: he was unselfish then and he's the same way now."

Three years away have taught Juluke a few things, things he shares with his recruits. There's the new turf in Joe Aillet Stadium, the new Davison Athletics Complex, and the chance for a second nine-win season and consecutive bowl victories. But there's more.

"When we come from down south, getting a degree is every important," Juluke said. "Our families stress the importance of that. It's good to play football, but you've got to get a degree. I stress Tech's Tier One status, explain that it means we are the best academic institution in our region and one of only nine Tier One schools in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Arkansas. I tell them a Tech diploma gives you the opportunity to network throughout the state, that it can never be taken away from you.

"A lot of these guys have been in the city all their lives. They don't know about the intimacy of the University," Juluke said. "That's what makes it unique and special. They don't know the advantages of the quarter system or the smaller class sizes, that once you get in your major, your instructors are going to know who you are. We're not just playing football up here; you're getting a quality degree."

None of his recruits have ever been away from the gravitational pull of Antoine's and the Rex Room for more than a few weeks, at the most. Juluke knew the feeling three years ago. He knows something else now.

"Our hometown never changes," he said. "I remind kids that you can always venture to other places and go back; it's only going to get better. New Orleans is a very special place. All the guys I've recruited in New Orleans have had to make adjustments to Ruston being a small town. But I remind them that's it's a good thing to get out of the hustle and bustle and get the opportunity to breathe some fresh air, to get to meet some new people, to broaden your life. It's good to be a part of something like that."

Juluke's goal for Saturday is a bit different. This week, he's recruiting you.

"Go to New Orleans Food and Spirits; get the charbroiled oysters and a shrimp po'boy," he said. "You'll want to see the historical parts of the city: the French Quarter, go Uptown, go to the Garden District, the Warehouse District. Experience as much food and culture as you possibly can."

Then make time for football Saturday night. Celebrate the team, the season and the bowl.

"One thing we do in New Orleans is find a way to celebrate anything and everything," he said. "I grew up doing that, learning that. Because life is precious. We need to celebrate it."

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