January 2, 2025
New Leesburg High Head Football Coach Kenard Lang Looks To Add Stability To Football Program
By Kyle Coppola
New Leesburg High Head Football Coach Kenard Lang Looks To Add Stability To Football Program
Excitement is on the horizion for Leesburg High School football. For the fourth time in four different season’s, Leesburg High School has a different head football coach. It’s no secret the past few years have been challenging for the Yellow Jackets, but Leesburg’s new head football coach Kenard Lang who is a former 10 year NFL veteran will be a great addition to this team and looks to bring stability to the program.
Despite the challenges in recent years, Leesburg has been to the FHSAA Playoffs twice in the past two seasons. They made it to the FHSAA Regional Semifinals in 2023 under head coach Steven Moffett and then Frank Scott took the team to the playoffs again in 2024. Both coaches lasted just one year at the program and brought many positive things to Leesburg even though their time was short. We had the chance to speak to Coach Kenard Lang recently at Leesburg High School and his eyes were wide at the potential that exists for the Leesburg High program.
(Kenard Lang brings an incredible amount of experience to Leesburg High. Photo Credit – North Carolina A&T.)
“I’m beyond excited to take on this role,” Lang said. “Leesburg has so much potential, not just in football but in building young men who are leaders in their community. My goal is to establish a program that fosters discipline, teamwork, and success.” Lang is no stranger to success. He was a first-round draft pick in the 1997 NFL Draft and a veteran of 10 seasons in the NFL with Washington, Cleveland and Denver. After retiring in 2006, coach Lang would join Jones High School as a head coach from 2008-2012. Lang also went on to be the head coach at Wekiva High School from 2013-2015 and Maynard Evans High School from 2016-2022. Most recently coach Lang was a defensive line coach for North Carolina A&T.
At Leesburg, Lang plans to focus on fundamentals and a strong work ethic while implementing a system that maximizes the strengths of his players.
“It’s not just about winning games—it’s about preparing these young men for life after football,” Lang emphasized. “We’re going to work hard, play hard, and represent Leesburg with pride.”
(From left to right – Leesburg Athletic Director Spencer Hey, Leesburg Principal Andrea Pyatt, Leesburg Football Head Coach Kenard Lang, Leesburg Basketball coach Sean Campbell, Lake County Director of Athletics Pat Todd.)
Leesburg Athletic Director Spencer Hey says “Coach Lang brings a unique blend of experience, passion, and vision to our school, we’re thrilled to see where he can take this program. We had many coaches apply to the head coaching position but the more we talked and the more I saw his vision, the more we felt like coach Lang was the right fit for the Leesburg program.” says Hey.
Leesburg High also recently brought on former NFL player Titus Dixon to the program. Dixon was a player at Troy University. He played 11 years of professional football in the NFL, AFL and CFL. Coach Dixon was a player for the Jets, Eagles, Lions, Colts and Falcons. He coached at 6A Temple High School in Texas.
One thing is for sure, Leesburg High School has put out a good team the past two years despite the challenges that come with a new coaching staff. “Just about 85% of our staff at Leesburg will be retained for next year. That’s a good thing for the program” says Hey.
While time will tell if Leesburg can contend for a District Championship next season, all the pieces are pointing in the right direction for this team. Now begins the off-season work and we are excited to watch coach Lang and his team go to work the next few months as they prepare for the season which is just about 8 months away.
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.
