By Steve Williams
L.A. Headrick is back at home and doing what he loves to do. And that’s coaching at Central High School, where he started in 1999.
He resigned last November after his second season as the head coach at South-Doyle. It was his first head coaching job, but he’s young enough to have a role like that again in the future.
On a beautiful Wednesday last week under blue skies with low humidity, Headrick was finishing up practice at summer camp and going over some rules with the Bobcats. His stern talk was about going to bed early at night and being on time the next morning.
That’s kinda where the season had started at CHS. Headrick was serious about getting off on the right foot. That comes from coaching high school boys and turning them into young men for over a quarter of a century.
This reporter was watching and listening to the end of the practice from the sideline.
After the players left the field, I sat down with L.A. and we talked about the recent change in his coaching career. He is now a co-defensive coordinator at Central with Ryan Roach.
“When I resigned (at South-Doyle) it was heartfelt, it was tough,” said Headrick. “But at the end of the day, there are things that we go through in life and how you handle those things dictate the next step of whatever you’re planning to do. I just felt like God has put me in a situation and I just need to handle it the right way. I felt like I did that and I’m at Central now. Twenty plus years ago I got into coaching. It was the first place that I coached at and had an opportunity to actually come home and be back to a place where it has a lot of memories, a lot of special memories, a lot of relationships. A lot of those relationships are still here and it’s just a great opportunity for me.”
Headrick started coaching the first year out of Powell High School when he was 20 years old. And Joel Helton, one of the state’s top coaches, was the head coach at Central the entire time Headrick was first at CHS.
“I always had the desire to coach and get into coaching football and just had the opportunity to come and be a young coach and really mostly just to learn,” said L.A. “Learn how to deal with certain situations with kids and build relationships and things like that. It’s very instrumental in my career and how I deal with kids, how I do things. I was able to learn a lot and just be a student of the game as a coach. And that probably helped me more than anything that I’ve gone through in my coaching career.”
Being at Central, Headrick has gotten the opportunity to coach again with Kevin Lane, the Bobcats’ current head coach.
“I think he came in 2002,” recalled L.A. “We got into coaching together, so it was one of those brotherhoods that we created and just grew as coaches together. Obviously, we went our separate ways and it’s a blessing to be able to come back to where it all started and be able to continue to build this program.
“The one thing about Central is there’s a lot of pride and a lot of tradition in Fountain City,” said Headrick. “I think it’s unmatched, honestly, because when Central football is at its best is when Central High School is at its best.”
He also is glad to be where his children are. His daughter, Olivia, will be a sophomore this coming school year and plays basketball; and his son, Wesley, will be a freshman and start his high school football career.
