Less than three months after Eric Shaw stepped down as the Lafayette head football coach, Lafayette has named Ethan Atchley to lead the Football program.

Atchley, a former Lafayette assistant, spent five years at LCA and posted a remarkable 48-16 mark as head coach, of those featuring a 12-1 season. Atchley was a key factor of the Eagles’ rebuild, inheriting a program that was 1-10 the year prior. Atchley also spent three years with Bullitt East, where he took charge of a sub .500 team. He would leave with an 8-4 mark in his final season, leading the Chargers to their first winning season since 2014.

“Some of the best coaches in the state reached out and talked to us about this position,” said Principal Bryne Jacobs in a press conference last Thursday. “There was no shortage of quality coaches out there…once we brought him in and set him down in front of the [hiring committee], all of the leaders knew he was the right person for the job.”

HOMECOMING

Not only is Atchley returning to Lafayette having formerly been an assistant, but he says longtime staff played a key role in his return.

For instance, Coach Shaw. Atchley said that “[Lafayette] was home when I first started out. I coached here previously under Coach Shaw…the ability for me to learn under Coach Shaw was invaluable… Coach Shaw was here 20 years, you don’t get that very often.”

“At the end of time, the first kicker for me was Ms. Gash. [She] had told me that I needed to come home. My wife had coached her daughters, the job was open, and it got the ball rolling in terms of commitment for me to realize a large majority of the same faces will be here if I were to go back. That matters… One of the things when I walked back into this place, that I was hired [at] in 2011 to be a teacher is: There’s a lot of the same people. The administration here is almost identical to what I had when I left here and went to LCA in 2015, that’s what makes places special…Being at a place that is home, being at a place that matters, is here. Don’t take that for granted.”

A DULL PAGE OF HISTORY

Since 2017, Lafayette is 9-41, including six consecutive losses to Dunbar. But when asked, Coach Atchley didn’t seem to care about the numbers.

“The great thing about history is we can learn from it, but it’s still history. You can give me stats, and what the record was, all that… [But] there are good players here, we will get back on track. There will be some new faces, new coaches- new kids come out. At the end of time, there’s kids that will have a blank slate, and all [of] that can correct the history when it comes down to statistics and what the record is… When you start comparing and contrasting what we do compared to other teams in the city, it will improve.”

Atchley ultimately concluded with one key statement.

“We are going to get back to work, reinvest in the process of what it takes to be committed to a football program, and we’ll be better come fall.”

THOUGHTS

When a team is having a down year, or down years, it can be hard to be optimistic. As not just a journalist, but also a student, I would be lying if I said I was the most optimistic fan in the stands since my freshman year here at Lafayette. That said, Coach Atchley didn’t flinch at a tough question about the dull state of our program. Instead, he showed that he had faith in his coaching abilities and our boys, despite not even getting to spend a second on the field with them yet. That kind of faith and trust is not only admirable, but leaves me with an intangible feeling of optimism.

Nobody can realistically expect that we will see this team at Kroger Field at the end of this fall, and that’s okay. It won’t happen overnight. However, I have a striking feeling that this team will be better than 2-9 next season. In the same way that our boys need to put some blind faith in our new coach, fans need to put blind faith in the Generals. All we can really do as fans is pack the bleachers and support our Generals. Coach Atchley rebuilt LCA from 1-10 to a state championship appearance, and Bullitt East from 3-8 to 8-4. There is nothing to say he won’t do the same for Lafayette. All it takes is patience, and a little bit of blind faith.

The rebuild is officially on. In Coach Atchley we trust.

Go Generals.