GRETNA, La. — Thomas Jefferson High School’s new head football coach brings a resume that includes a national championship at LSU and time on the field at Soldier Field with the Chicago Bears.
Michael Ford, a former LSU running back, said he wasn’t surprised by his new position at Thomas Jefferson.
“I wasn’t surprised. I was excited,” Ford said. “They said we were going to get somebody good, and we definitely did.”
Ford said he wants to leave a legacy and impact young athletes.
“I think you always want to leave a legacy. You always want to impact kids,” Ford said. “And like I said, I played this game. Played at the highest level. Played at a great university as LSU and want to give back. And I think there’s no better place than this to give back.”
Building a new identity
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Ford said he doesn’t want his players to focus on his past accomplishments.
“Some of them found highlights of me and they talk about me,” Ford said. “I kind of shun it off, you know. It’s in the past, you know what I mean? But try to focus on the here and now so they can understand the same thing. Some of them, if they want that, I can help you towards that. I know I’ve been there. I know what it takes. And I redefined, if I go back and do it over, I’ll do it different. So I’ll give you that path, not the path that I took.”
Thomas Jefferson is known as one of the top academic schools in the state, but the Jaguars hope this season changes perceptions about their athletics program.
“When you look at any school, nobody started at the top. You have to build your way to get there,” Ford said. “Even LSU didn’t start where they were. That became a developmental growth over time. So I think any place you go to, if you put in the work, you put in the dedication, that can happen.”
Quarterback Vincent Wypyszinski said the team lost four or five coaches last year and 12 seniors.
“We were getting a lot of bad press from our classmates in the school saying it was a rebuild year,” Wypyszinski said. “But came out here, everybody’s real dedicated. It’s nice to see that we’re here to win, not just rebuild.”
Ford said the team has adopted a superhero motto.
“One of our mottos is superhero. A superhero doesn’t live without a challenge,” Ford said. “If there is no challenge, you don’t need Superman. They call Superman on the biggest challenge. So for us, we’re superheroes. We have a challenge, and we’re going to do that.”
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