Assistant coach, AD promoted to head roles
Robbinsville – Less than 24 hours after being publicly named as the new head football coach and athletic director for Robbinsville High School, Lucas Ford scrolled through his phone in sheer amazement.
“Look at this,” he said to a small crowd gathered around him. “This is from today,” as he showed a long list of text messages, congratulating Ford on his promotion the day prior.
A quick swipe took him down another rabbit hole.
“This was yesterday,” as the messages flew by at a rapid pace.
No privacy laws were broken in the quick glimpse, but one universal consensus did stick out: he is the right man for the job.
News of Ford’s appointment to the dual role broke during the afternoon of Feb. 6.
He has grown up playing – and spent his adult life coaching – sports, so the workload of what lies ahead is not lost on Ford. Amid the chaos of the countless well-wishes and the years of dreaming for a day that had finally arrived colliding together, it was evident that he had already clocked in for the job of a lifetime.
“I’ve not really slowed down enough for it to hit me yet, to be honest,” Ford said.
A student of the game, Ford chuckled when he was asked if while he was a senior Black Knight in 1999, he ever thought he would one day be the head coach for his hometown team.
“Ask (former head coach) Bruce Snyder that question,” Ford answered with a smile. “I’m not saying this, but other people have: if we had a play on the field and our quarterback didn’t know what to do, I could tell him. Our wide receiver didn’t know what to do, I could tell him. Coach Snyder would always say, ‘You’re going to be the head football coach one day.’”
Spend one day around campus and you will quickly notice that student-athletes have a great relationship with Ford. That has translated to a long-time stint as a coach for the football team, in various roles – head JV coach, offensive and defensive coordinator, linebackers coach, just to name a few – as well as captaining the ship of the Lady Knights basketball program since the 2017-18 season.
It’s no coincidence that the teams he has coached have attained championship gold. Robbinsville football has won state championships in 2014 and 2019 with Ford as a member of the staff; he is currently 140-62 as coach of the Lady Knights, which included a regional finals appearance in 2023, a Smoky Mountain Conference title in 2021 and a ticket to the postseason in every year he has been at the helm.
“I live it every day with these kids, and it’s not just the ones at the high school level,” Ford explained. “A long time ago, when I started teaching and I had kids, how I coached became different. I realized, ‘That’s somebody else’s kid that I’m coaching.’ Yes, I will coach you hard, but my players know at the end of the day that I have their back no matter when. That’s extended through life. I hope to have wedding invitations and find out when their babies are born. That’s the quality of it for me.
“Championships are great, but the relationships never go away.”
Branching off the motto, “Once a Black Knight, Always a Black Knight,” Ford said the Robbinsville fanbase can expect to see much of the same from the team moving forward on the field, as far as offensive and defensive alignments go.
He does have plans to shore up the off-the-field approach, however.
“Our kids are going to be disciplined. They’re going to be held accountable for their actions, in- and out-of-school,” said Ford. “That’s the standard we want. Getting the passion back right now is the big thing. It’s like Tim Tebow said, ‘Without passion, there is no discipline or accountability.’”
Ford earned a bachelor’s degree in 2005 from Western Carolina University in physical education, with a minor in health. He later obtained a certificate to teach middle-grade science. He and his wife Ashley have two children, 11-year-old Bella and 8-year-old Rhett.
“’Faith, family and football’ is the motto. I truly feel like God has been molding, shaping and sharpening me and my family for this for years,” Ford said. “We are very blessed. We sat down and talked about this. They are very excited. I have a great support system; it takes a special lady to be a coach’s wife.
“I’m very proud and humbled, because I know how big this role is in this community. That might make some people nervous, but it makes me excited. I’ve got some big shoes to fill; coach (Dee) Walsh is a great man, great mentor and a great friend.”