By Kyle Coppola
Mark Woolum Returns as South Lake High Football Offensive Coordinator
South Lake High School has announced that Mark Woolum is returning to the football program and will be heading up the Eagles’ offense for the 2024 high school football season. Mark Woolum returned a few years ago from coaching football, but with the excitement surrounding South Lake High School football, Woolum has decided to come out of retirement.
“Coach Woolum has decided to step up and help create excitement at the school he loves,” says South Lake High School head football coach Brad Lord. “We are extremely blessed that Coach Woolum is joining our staff to help further our student-athletes’ experience and develop them as outstanding young adults,” adds Coach Lord.
South Lake is coming off a two-win season, but there is a lot of reason for hope with this program. South Lake was 0-10 just two seasons ago. Last year was a step in the right direction, and the hope is that this year, South Lake will continue the upward trend. “Coach Woolum will make a major difference in our program. Coach Woolum and I have known one another for many years. When I came to South Lake High last season, he was extremely helpful in my transition. To me, that speaks volumes about his love for the school and students,” says Coach Lord.
Mark Woolum was the head coach of the South Lake High School Eagles program from 2012-2020. During his time as the head coach of South Lake, Woolum averaged around five wins per season. His best years came in 2013 and 2014 when he went 15-6 in those two years. Woolum knows how to get things done. He was the last coach to have South Lake High in the Top 25 rankings in their division, which came during the 2014 season.
After a 2-8 season last year, South Lake is looking to build momentum. While two wins are still shy of the greatness South Lake used to achieve, it was a step in the right direction. The Eagles’ program has some stability now and continues to evolve in a positive direction. Coach Woolum is part of that process. We look forward to seeing him coach the offense in 2024! Welcome back, Coach Woolum!
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
