After 10 seasons, Will Mitchell is out as football coach at Lewisville High School
Someone once told Will Mitchell that 10 years is “a long time” — for a community and a coach.
And although Mitchell gave all he had for a decade as head coach of the Lewisville High School football team — and although he wanted to stay and reap the seeds he’s sown over the last few years — he also understands the nature of the “results-based business” he’s in.
Mitchell will not return as the Lions’ football coach next season. Per Chester County School District spokesperson Chris Christoff, Lewisville administration informed Mitchell on Thursday that it “wished to move in a different direction with the position.”
“The facts are the facts,” Mitchell told The Herald via phone conversation on Thursday night. “I would have loved to have stayed. They thought it was time for a change, and I completely understand that.”
Mitchell added: “I’ll always really treasure the kids I had there and the people I worked with. It was a great experience. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. But it might be time to spend some time with my own children. They’re both getting into teen years, and I’ve been spending time with everybody else’s teenagers for a long time now.”
Mitchell saw highs and lows in his tenure as the 1A program’s leader. In total, he accumulated a 49-57 record and made eight trips to the state playoffs.
His best years came in 2016 and 2017, when his teams made it to the third round of the postseason.
He had losing seasons in three of his last four years — which included the 2021 season, one riddled with injuries and hampered by a tough back-loaded schedule. The 2021 Lions lost their last six after winning their first three and missed the playoffs for a second year in a row because of it.
Mitchell, 50, said he will finish the 2021-22 academic year with a “great experience.” He’ll represent Lewisville at the North-South All-Star game (with Anthony Walls, one of his seniors on his last team) and also represent the school at the recruiting fair in Myrtle Beach after that.
“I’ll do everything I can to help out those seniors,” he said. “We have a few of them who have some opportunities and aspirations to continue playing. I’ll try my best to give them any opportunities I can.”
Will Mitchell’s life as a coach
Mitchell has been just about everywhere across York, Chester and Lancaster counties. He considers all of it home.
He went to Winthrop in Rock Hill as an undergraduate before taking a job as a defensive coordinator at then-1A Indian Land High School in 2001. He then went around a lot of different places — first to Chester as defensive coordinator under Victor Floyd in 2004, then to Brunswick High in Georgia (still under Floyd) in 2008, then to Ardrey Kell in Charlotte in 2010.
He accepted the Lewisville head job in 2012.
While the leader of the Lions’ program, he was more than a coach: He was a social studies teacher. The school’s head track and field coach. An advocate for 1A football who knew the rules of realignment like the back of his hand. An impactful mentor.
He was the old-school kind of coach — the kind who wore large reading glasses on the tip of his nose; who respected the rich football history built by his predecessors; whose voice always seemed to be a bit hoarse from hollering from the sideline.
He’s the kind of coach who believes in the clichés that push athletes and others through trying times, kind of like the one he finds himself in now: “One door closes,” he said Thursday, “another door opens.”
Mitchell coached some college talent at Lewisville. Most recently, Mitchell coached wide receiver/quarterback/return man Demetric Hardin and saw him help his team to a 2A playoff berth before playing in the 2019 Shrine Bowl and committing to play football at Middle Tennessee State.
The coach was also well on his way building for his team’s future: The program welcomed its largest freshman class Mitchell has ever had — 18 players — in 2020 and “had the highest numbers we’ve ever had” this past summer, Mitchell told The Herald in July.
As for life after being the head coach at Lewisville? Mitchell said he is going to teach until “the end of the year, and then I don’t know.” He’s not sure if he’ll ever coach football again, he said.
“I don’t know if I’ll stay in education or not, to be honest with you,” he said. “I know it’s kinda late in the game to change, but I don’t know. We’ve got six months to figure it out.”
This story was originally published November 11, 2021 at 9:28 PM.
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