Lafayette High Football Head Coach Rob Pool Won’t Return in 2020

The journey began in 2016 for Lafayette High football coach Rob Pool after taking an opportunity to be the head coach of a high school football program.

That journey ended on Wednesday as Pool submitted his letter of resignation.

Over the four years Pool has been in charge of the program the Mighty Lions went 10-30 overall including a winless season in 2017 and no playoff appearances.

However, if you followed this program you could tell that they were making improvements. This past season was an example of that after they opened the year going 3-0 and even won four of their first five games. The hot start quickly faded as they got into tough District 5A play and ended the season on a five-game losing streak.

Pool told Eric Narcisse of the Daily Advertiser, "If (the administration) thinks there is a better option out there, I'll step aside. For me, it's about the kids. I want to make sure the kids here at Lafayette High have the best opportunity to be successful at school and at football. If it's not me, then I'm willing to let someone else come in who can."

While Rob Pool was in charge, the team's weight room and other spaces were completely revamped thanks to a generous donation from Shaquille O'Neal.

"We have made some improvements here," Pool said. "We got the lockers redone, a new meeting room to meet and watch film. With the help of Shaquille O'Neal, we were able to improve the weight room. We put chair back seating in the stadium. The next guy will be in a better situation facility wise than I was in. We also redid the logo and uniforms and that stuff is a big deal to kids, who want to wear something nice."

It couldn't have been easy for Pool to inform the kids of his decision but when he met with them he told them a couple of things. "I told them to make sure this doesn't have a negative impact on them," said Pool. "I don't want the fact that I'm not coaching to stop them from continuing to grow. I also told them to make sure they know what the truth is and not to believe the gossip or rumors."

Coach Pool will certainly be missed in the area and we wish him nothing but the best moving forward in his career.