Coleman changes course to GIAA Lakeview Academy
Jan. 18—As reported last month, Lee Coleman will not be back at Georgia Military College Prep next year.
That much hasn't changed.
What has changed, however, is that instead of heading to GHSA Class AAA Salem High School in Conyers, he will now be the head football coach at Lakeview Academy.
No, not the Baldwin County public school Lakeview Academy that houses upper elementary students in grades 3-5. Coleman is bound for the Lakeview Academy located in his hometown of Gainesville, Ga., where he was once a three-sport standout at East Hall High School, eventually earning a scholarship to play football at Northwestern University in Illinois.
Coleman late last month had accepted the head coaching position at Salem, and his hiring was later approved by the Rockdale County Board of Education. He had not signed the paperwork when Lakeview came calling, he said. Lakeview had lost its coach, Lee Shaw, to Metter High School and tapped Coleman as the replacement.
Coleman, in a Tuesday phone interview, cited two things as the reasons for the sudden change in course.
"Family and home," he said.
Coleman's parents still live in the Gainesville area. His father is an assistant basketball coach at Buford High School, which is a short ride down I-985 from Gainesville.
When word first got out that Coleman had accepted the Salem job, he said he and GMC Prep "mutually agreed to part ways." He leaves with a 23-20 record in four seasons, making him one of the few in program history to depart the school with a record over .500. The Bulldogs went undefeated through the 2021 regular season and claimed the Region 7-A Public championship. Coleman also led the program to three straight state playoff berths these last three years, which is something that GMC Prep football had not accomplished in two decades. He will finish out this month at GMC before taking on his new role as Lakeview Academy head football coach and high school physical education teacher.
"We are extremely pleased that Lee Coleman has accepted this position because we know he will be good for Lakeview's football program as well as its players and families," Lakeview head of school John Simpson was quoted as saying in the Gainesville Times newspaper. "Lee's football experience, as both a player and a coach, will be hugely beneficial to Lakeview."
Lakeview has only offered football going back the last 15 years or so. The school had been a GHSA member, but made the switch many other private schools did this past year in changing over to the private school-only Georgia Independent Athletic Association (GIAA), formerly known as the GISA. Their first year in GIAA, the Class AAA Lions went 6-5, losing in the first round of the state playoffs to Heritage of Newnan. If that school's name sounds familiar, it's because that's who John Milledge defeated in the second round of the playoffs to break the state record for Georgia high school football's longest winning streak at 48 games.
Although Coleman while at Lakeview will likely never be in John Milledge's region, he and his Lions could see J.T. Wall and the Trojans during the state playoffs.
Coleman said his first order of business when taking the reins at Lakeview will be to fill out his staff. He expects some holdovers from the previous regime, but some replacements will need to be found.
Other than that, he's looking forward to the new challenge.
"They've been successful in baseball and other sports, and they continue to want to be successful in football," said Coleman. "That excites me."
