- December 25th, 2006, 2:34 am
#49772
Some of you guys may remember Mike Lucas:
Lucas earns top jobhttp://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/ ... 51999.html
By JOHN A. LEWIS
Burlington County Times
It's homecoming week for Mike Lucas.
The former Pemberton High School quarterback will renew acquaintances over the weekend with the people that molded his football life.
People like William McDowell, who coached Lucas at Pemberton in the late '70s. People like current Riverside head coach Bruce Laza-ruk, who was the Hornets' offensive coordinator at the time. People like Jim Horner, the former Cherokee coach and current Holy Cross assistant, who Lucas said he's kept in contact with over the years since he left Pemberton to play college ball for William & Mary College.
This time, though, those county legends will be calling Lucas “coach.”
Lucas was named the head football coach at Division 1-AA Southeastern Louisiana University on Monday. He was elevated to interim head coach from defensive coordinator for the second game of this season. His predecessor, Dennis Roland, was stricken with cancer in September. This season the Lions compiled a 2-9 record, though four of those losses were by seven points or less.
Lucas, speaking by phone Thursday during his drive from Hammond, La. to his family's Pemberton home, said he began learning the defensive side of the game after he suffered a knee injury during his playing days, and found it to his liking.
“It fits my personality better,” he said. “It's more aggressive. I like to run attacking fronts and put pressure on the quarterback.”
After graduating from William & Mary, he coached every defensive position in a tenure at Liberty University, then took over as the wide receivers coach at the University of Texas-El Paso.
He was the defensive coordinator at Eastern New Mexico, and then spent 15 years in that capacity at Sam Houston State — where he guided the Bearkats defense to several school records. The team collected 52 quarterback sacks in the 2001 season and allowed just 13.2 points per game in 1991. Both marks are school records.
Since he was promoted from inside, he'll be working next season with players familiar with that personality — in addition to some players he hasn't worked closely with before.
You know.
Those offensive guys.
“I've hired a defensive coordinator and an offensive coordinator,” Lucas said. “And I'll let them run it, but as the head coach, it's important to let the players know you're involved on both sides of the ball. I'll be heavily involved in the special teams, too.”
Naturally, he'll be involved in recruiting as well. The Lions roster right now is stocked with players from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and there's a heavy volume of transfers from 1-A schools.
Lucas wouldn't mind some local kids making the trip, either.
“We're open to any 1-A player who's not happy with where he is on the depth chart, or not happy with where he's going to school,” Lucas said. “If you're interested in coming to Louisiana, we're interested in having you. Jersey kids, too. Give me a call.”
Lucas was an all-Liberty selection at quarterback as a “Jersey kid,” and a Brooks-Irvine Scholar athlete before he moved south to attend William & Mary.
Mike and Wendy Lucas sent their son, 20-year-old Tyler, north to play quarterback at Cornell University, where he's a sophomore. Another son, Torin, 17, is highly-regarded baseball prospect as a high school junior.
December 24, 2006 7:26 AM
- By Purple Haize
- By Dalegarz1