Lakewood head football coach, Cory Moore boarded the plan for his flight back to Tampa this afternoon, with a bag full of new organizational tips, skills and managing tools. Moore, heading into his fifth season as the head football coach of the Lakewood Spartans, spent 17 days as an assistant coach with for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Coach Moore worked with Special Teams Coordinator John Bonamego and Secondary coach Marlon McCree under new head coach Mike Mularkey.
“This was a great opportunity to learn from coach John Bonamego, his organizational skills, the way he teaches his kids. It was a great opportunity. Worked hand in hand with the wide receiver coach also. Great opportunity to work with that staff.”
Moore left behind a confident, hungry Spartan team who finished the 2011 season losing the last four games of the regular season schedule and ultimately missing the playoffs. The Spartans have had a strong summer participating in several competitive summer football events/tournaments, but Coach Moore is hungry to improve his program and himself as a coach.
Moore said he took away a lot from the time he spent with the Jags. However, one thing really stands out. “One that sticks out – correctional teaching! Taking different parts of one drill, break down the game & teach in progression. I also took away the organizational skills of the two coaches. The art of not just being ready, but being prepared to play!”
Moore short-term goal is to build the Lakewood Spartans into a championship program and impact the lives of young athletes. But, he does have long-term goals of possibly becoming an NFL coach some day. “The opportunity to show coaches that I’m a young coach and I’m hungry about being better. Good at pushing myself to the limits and coaching at the highest level. I did a great job and I know I got better as a coach so I can come back and be a better impact to my coaches as well as my team and the community.”
Lakewood is gearing up for another challenging year. Crushed in a district with strong teams such as Jesuit and Robinson. Coach Moore expects nothing but success from his team. He expects his Spartans to challenge for a district title and advance to the playoffs. But before that can happen, Coach Moore and the Lakewood Spartans will have to learn from last year, put last year behind them and battle from start to finish. “Big thing coming in, I am going to definitely bring in the thing about progressions and look over everything that we do and look at the rhyme or reason about what we do and come up with a plan for the piece about progression. I’m very focused on this. We have to be fundamentally sound. Late expectations…being optimistic, We have to pull together as a unit, as a team, play to the best of our abilities, push egos aside, have fun with the team and still be playing late in the playoffs.”