2023 Interview with Lakewood Lancers Head Coach John Poulnott

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

Name: John Poulnott

School: Lakewood High School (Herbron)

Position: Head Coach

Can you give us a brief history of your coaching career? Where you have coached and the position you have held at each stop (just football coaching stops)
1997 Roosevelt Middle School, Newark, Ohio (head football coach for 7th and 8th grade football)

1998 Clayton Middle School, Clayton, NC (OL, DL/LB, and DC)

1999: Clayton High School, Clayton, NC (varsity and JV OT and TE coach)

2000-2002 Franklinton High School, Franklinton, NC (Head JV and OL/DL-LBS and DC)

2003-2007 Millbrook High School, Raleigh, NC (Head JV, OC, OL, QB)

2008-2009 Northern Durham, Durham, NC (OC, OL, QB)

2010-2016 East Wake High School, Wendell, NC (Head Coach)

2018 North Pole Youth Football, North Pole, Alaska (7th and 8th DC, DL, LB, and OL)

2019-2021 Lakewood High School, Hebron, Ohio (OC and OL)

2022: Lakewood High School, Hebron, Ohio (head coach)

Looking back from day one as a coach up to the present, what have been the low and high points of your coaching career?

Many low points in coaching surround leaving programs (players and coaches). I truly loved starting a new chapter as I worked to advance my career. However, the lowest moment is seeing the five years I just spent coaching my son, Stewart, come to an end. proudest, but lowest!

The time spent coaching my son has been the best of times, even though our teams have struggled. Outside of those years, I have also been extremely blessed to coach with hall-of-fame caliber coaches at amazing schools. My career started with Coach Franks of Newark hiring me to lead one of his middle school programs. Next, I was honored to join Coach Fowler's staff at Clayton Middle and High School. The community experience I was blessed with at Clayton has never been matched. It was there that I met Coach Joe Salas, who gave me the opportunity to join him at Franklinton High School to learn the Air Raid offense, which he learned from Hal Mumme at Valdosta State. Helping Coach Salas rebuild Franklin's program and win the school's second playoff game was truly rewarding.

My next stop was Millbrook High School, where I was not only surrounded by a talented head coach in Clarence Inscore but multiple future head coaches and an atmosphere that promoted success in all of its programs: sports, band, drama, etc. After that stop, I followed a great friend and extremely talented coach, Anthony Sullivan, to Northern Durham. Another school like Clayton and Millbrook expects students to perform at a high level in everything they do.

Because of all the great coaches, administrators, and players God put in my life, I was given the opportunity to lead East Wake High School for 7 years. Outside of coaching my son, this has been the most memorable time in my coaching career. I hope, in time, to replace that feeling with my current rebuild project at Lakewood High School.

Looking ahead to this season, what are your biggest concerns with the team?

Depth at every position at Lakewood is always a concern, but player retention from 7-12 has been the main focus this offseason. This is the only way we can resolve our depth issues long-term.

What was the toughest part of the 2022 season?

Playing with 14–16 varsity players. Only having two seniors in our program that played from the 7th on and having a total of five seniors in the program left us struggling to finish a number of winnable games last year.

How important was it for the Lancers to win in Week 10 last season to avoid a winless season?

Winning the last game every year helps pave the way for future success. In our case, it was even more important because we were on a 20-game losing streak.

The last time the Lancers produced a winning record was back in 2001. What will it take for the Lancers to turn things around and get back to 500 or better?

Player commitment and retention It's not uncommon for us to line up against multiple kids on Friday night who played football at the youth and middle school levels for Lakewood. Stopping that mass exodus is a major concern of mine and the coaches on a number of our programs at Lakewood.

What are your thoughts on girls playing on the boys' football team?

I have had multiple girls play for me in the past, and they have always given the team great effort to prove they belong. As long as they work hard and are determined to help us win, they are as welcome as anyone else who loves the game of football.

What are your thoughts on 16 teams from each region making the playoffs?

As a coach from North Carolina, I am familiar with 16 team regions, but at least down there, we only had 4 regions. I know it can help the state create revenue, but I think we could rethink the number of regions to make it more of an honor to make the playoffs. That or reduce the number of teams per region. Just my humble opinion!

Do you think online ticket sales have hurt or helped attendance?

I'm not sure overall. Like most things, it probably depends on the community which way this leans.

Of the players that are coming back to play for the Lancers, what did you learn about them during the 2022 season?

They have true grit! To play outnumbered at the level we do weekly and still put up the fight we did most weeks was truly impressive. I just wish more Lancers wanted to join them in the fight.

Can you tell us which seniors from last season will be moving on to play college ball and list the colleges too?

At this point, none of our seniors from last year are planning on playing at the next level. Next year's class should have at least four players, though.

[VetteMan]

Coach Poulnott certainly has his work cut out for himself. The numbers problem alone is enough of a problem to try to overcome, plus the fact that Lakewood has not had very much success in a number of years. He knows that getting the kids interested in wanting to play is the first step, knowing and getting it to happen is the hard part. He has had plenty of experience in every facet of the game, especially at a number of schools in North Carolina. Good interview.

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

I will have a 2024 interview with the coach sometime this coming week.