Lafayette back in hunt for football coach after recently named Atchley steps down
Less than a month after his announced hiring as the new high school football coach at Lafayette, Ethan Atchley said Friday that he was removing his name from consideration for the job.
“This is a personal decision and one that was not taken lightly,” Atchley wrote in a letter to Lafayette Principal Bryne Jacobs and the school’s hiring committee. “I would ask that you and your school please respect my family’s request for privacy at this time.”
Lafayette announced Atchley’s hiring during a news conference at the school on Jan. 27. Atchley was to take over for Eric Shaw, who stepped down after last season. Before moving on to head coaching stints at Lexington Christian and Bullitt East, Atchley served as an assistant on Shaw’s staff in 2013. He got his first head coaching job a year later at LCA at the age of 24.
“Earlier this week, he notified me that it’s just, timing-wise, not right for him and his family,” Jacobs told the Herald-Leader’s Jared Peck on Friday night. “I’ve got to respect that so he didn’t give me a lot of the details.”
Jacobs said the school has already begun a coaching search but predicted hiring someone in an interim role for now.
“We owe it to the kids to make sure we get a good plan in place so that the season progresses,” the principal said. “And I think we’ve got some things that’ll work.”
In five seasons with Lexington Christian, Atchley’s record of 48-16 included a 12-1 mark in 2016 derailed only by an eventual state finalist. The season before his arrival, LCA went 1-10 in 2013.
In his last of three seasons at Bullitt East, Atchley led the Chargers to an 8-4 record in a district that includes Class 6A power Male. It was Bullitt East’s first winning season since 2014 and included its first playoff win since 2013.
“The appreciation Emily and I have for Lafayette is immeasurable,” Atchley said in his letter. “I stand by what I said during our initial meeting, regarding my feelings for Lafayette. ... Your school is full of amazing students, teachers and leaders and I know this decision will not change the relationships I forged with your school community years ago as a brand new teacher. I think the world of General Nation, and wish you all nothing but success in finding your next football coach.
“I do not know what the future holds for me, but I have faith there is a plan.”
Whoever Lafayette chooses to take the reins will take over a team that hasn’t won more than three games a year over the past five seasons and went 2-9 last fall. But Lafayette is also a school that has the largest enrollment in the state at around 2,400 students and it has been to two Class 6A state finals in the last decade under Shaw.
“Some of the best coaches in the state reached out to us and talked to us about this position,” Jacobs said at the time Lafayette announced Atchley’s hiring. “There was no shortage of quality coaches out there.”