Lafayette names interim head football coach who plans on losing his temporary title
Lafayette High School has named an interim head football coach for the 2022 season from within its athletic department after the abrupt resignation of its last hire before a single snap was taken.
Jon Lawson, an associate athletic director who has been involved as a coach of a number of Lafayette sports over nearly two decades, met with players and their families as the head football coach Wednesday evening at the school.
Lawson told the Herald-Leader Friday night that he intends to lose the “interim” tag if things go well.
“I’m going to approach this as if I’m that guy for as long as I want to be,” Lawson said. “If this is where I need to be, it’s a good fit, and we’re continually moving in the right direction, I’ll still be there.”
Lawson had been head coach of the track and field program for a couple of years and a longtime strength and conditioning coach for several sports in addition to being an assistant football coach. Lawson stepped back from football in 2020 so that he could attend his son Jaylen’s games at Bowling Green State University.
Lawson takes over in the wake of the sudden change of heart by former Lexington Christian and Bullitt East coach Ethan Atchley, who was announced as the new head football coach of the Generals in a full-blown press conference on Jan. 27.
Less than a month later, Atchley submitted a letter to Principal Bryne Jacobs and the Lafayette hiring committee on Feb. 25 saying he was removing himself from the position.
Atchley’s departure, while unfortunate, proved serendipitous for Lawson, who initially put his name into consideration for the Lafayette head coaching job when it first opened, but withdrew it with his mind on still being able to attend his son’s college games.
“I was going to interview (when it first opened) and I thought, ‘You know what? I’m cool. My son’s still playing college football. So I’m just going to kind of lay low,’” Lawson said.
But over the winter after the hiring wheels were in motion, Lawson’s son told his dad he was ending his college career, freeing up those fall weekends.
“Then it came back around, brother,” Lawson said of last week’s news. “I was like, ‘I’m not turning it down anymore,’ because this is what I’ve been wanting to do for a while. … I think it was kind of meant to be.”
Lawson is a native of Blue Springs, Mo., and played for the University of Kentucky as a walk-on nose guard from 1989 to 1991 after transferring from Missouri Western State College. He’s been part of the Lexington community ever since, coaching at youth levels as a volunteer even before becoming a para-educator in the Fayette County Public School System back in 2003.
“Jon is a former UK football player, has coached for over 19 years in various sports at the the middle school and high school levels and is a high character, high integrity guy,” Jacobs said in a message to the Herald-Leader. “I’m excited to see what he does with our program.”
Paul Laurence Dunbar head coach Wes Johnson greeted the news warmly on social media.
“Fantastic choice! If there is a better man than (Coach Lawson) I don’t know him,” Johnson tweeted. “High character man who cares about kids. I’m rooting for you every game but one!”
Lafayette’s football program 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 Coach Eric Shaw, who stepped down at last season’s end.
This story was originally published March 2, 2022 at 9:36 PM.
