Longtime assistant Lee Carlson named interim head coach for Braintree High football

The Braintree High football team's one and only appearance in an EMass Super Bowl didn't have a happy ending -- a 37-6 loss to Reading in the 1998 Division 2A final at Boston University's Nickerson Field.

There was one big highlight for the Wamps that day, though -- Lee Carlson catching a pass from quarterback Ray Sarte and scooting away for an 80-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

"It was an over-the-middle pass-and-run," Carlson recalled almost 24 years later. "I remember catching it over the middle and having one defender to beat to the sideline. Then I was gone."

More: Circle these 17 high school football games on your calendar

That big play on a big stage now has some competition for the highlight of Carlson's Braintree High career. A longtime assistant coach for the Wamps -- he was slated to be their offensive coordinator this fall -- Carlson has gotten a surprise promotion. He's now the interim head coach, replacing former boss Brian Chamberlain, who stepped down in June to take over the Southeastern Regional High program.

Carlson, 40, calls it a "huge" opportunity for him. He was previously the head coach of Braintree's track and field team but acknowledges, "Football is my first love. Football is the sport that I'm really invested in. So when Brian left and this opportunity became available it was something that I jumped at. I couldn't pass it up."

Carlson is well-versed in the program. He was one of Chamberlain's first hires in Braintree 11 years ago and filled a variety of assistant roles on staff over that time. Last year he coached the JV defense and assisted the varsity, working with linebackers and running backs. He had a previous stint as the varsity offensive coordinator and, except for a brief period in which he stepped away from coaching after the birth of his second child, has been a valuable sideline presence for the Wamps for the better part of a decade.

More: Brian Chamberlain steps down as Braintree High football coach to take Southeastern job

"I've been the freshman head coach, I've been the offensive coordinator, I've been a varsity assistant, I've been a JV assistant," Carlson said, rattling off his previous jobs. "I've done it all."

"I trusted him," Chamberlain said. "He would do whatever was best for the program. ... He's coached a bunch of different positions for us and done a nice job with them."

Chamberlain admitted that his late decision to switch to Southeastern "put Braintree in a tough spot," but he thinks the school made the right call in turning to Carlson.

"It's tough to find a (totally new) staff (over the summer)," Chamberlain pointed out. "You had continuity with a guy who was already there. Talking to my old assistant coaches Lee seemed to be the pick (for head coach) that they all wanted."

More: FIVE THAT COULD SURPRISE: South Shore H.S. football teams that might break out in 2022

Carlson, a defensive back/receiver at both Braintree (Class of 1999) and Colby College (Class of 2004), said he's always wanted to be a head coach. "Being a head coach in track was something I enjoyed," he said. "I liked being in charge. I was the head coach at the freshman level (for football) and I liked having control over a whole team like that. I enjoy that side of it. It kind of worked out great."

Carlson plans to double up as both offensive coordinator and head coach for the 2022 season, although that's more out of necessity, given the short notice.

"Long-termwise, something I saw from Brian was the importance of serving as an overseer of the program (as a head coach) versus being solely focused on that one role," Carlson noted. "That's something I would like to get to, but, yeah, this first year, I'll be calling the offense myself."

Carlson, who spent most of his game days with the varsity team up on top of the press box, talking to Chamberlain on his headset, will follow through with the original plan of transitioning the Wamps into more of a traditional spread offense this fall. Braintree employed an under-center offense early in Chamberlain's tenure before moving to a pistol look.

"This offseason was spent tailoring the offense to the talent that we have," Carlson said. "We're just continuing down that road now; it just happens to be me in charge instead of Brian."

Luckily for Carlson, two key offensive pieces return from last season's 4-7 club. That would be senior quarterback James Tellier and senior receiver/running back Mario Franciosa-Johnson.

Of Tellier, Carlson says, "He's a great kid. Athletic, smart, a leader, one of our captains. He's a big, physical kid; he looks the part. Throws a great ball. He's going to be (an impact) player for us."

Carlson calls Franciosa-Johnson a "playmaker" -- one who produced a memorable highlight in the 2021 season. His 2-point conversion run in OT delivered a walk-off 22-20 win over local rival Weymouth in Week 7. (To be fair, the Wildcats argued that he was stopped short, although with no NFL-style video review their protest went for naught.)

Braintree was 4-3 after that emotional win, but wound up losing its final four games, including a 42-6 blowout against top-seeded Franklin in the first round of the Div. 1 playoffs two weeks later.

"We were 4-4, we qualified for the playoffs and had some momentum going and we ran into a really tough Franklin team," Carlson said. "The score speaks for itself. Finishing with four losses in a row I would like to think has left a sour taste in our mouths. We've been putting in the work this offseason. We have 27 seniors coming back. We want to make this season as successful as we can."

How many seasons will Carlson get? Well, he's guaranteed at least this one.

"The way it's been explained to me," he said, "is that I am currently labeled as interim. Then at the end of the season I will sit down and do the formal interview process that was not done this time around because of the time constraints."

Carlson's immediate (and long-term goal) is to return Braintree to the glory days of that long-ago Super Bowl season.

"That's kind of the idea, right?" he said. "To hopefully get back to that level."

Although the Wamps were only 49-66 under Chamberlain, they had plenty of highlights, including three straight winning seasons from 2016-18. Their 2-9 record in 2019 featured six one-score losses.

Braintree opens the 2022 campaign on Friday, Sept. 9, hosting Woburn in a non-league game.

"For the past 10 years, I think we've done a good job of building the program up to where we're in contention, we're a playoff team," Carlson said. "Ideally now, we're hoping to take that next step forward."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Lee Carlson named Braintree High's football coach