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Last Monday April 17, the Demopolis Board of Education announced Lance Tucker as the new head football coach and athletic director for DHS. Although his first official day as a Demopolis Tiger will be May 1, Tucker has already met with several football players and community members and has made a positive first impression.

Tucker said that what drew him to Demopolis was the idea that it was his dream job.

“The community support is second to none, they want to win, and they love their sports in Demopolis,” said Tucker. “I’ve always thought the Demopolis job was one of the top in the state. This isn’t a broken job. Coach Seymore did a phenomenal job for the six years he was here, and I can’t believe I get a chance to experience it and add to it. I can’t wait to get there and hit the ground running.”

When asked what his plans were for the team and the upcoming season, Tucker said he doesn’t know what to expect yet given that he hasn’t gotten to fully know the players, but he knows he is “getting a great group of young men.”

“I know that the players are hard workers, but outside of that, I don’t know much about them yet,” said Tucker. “But that’s the fun of it. Getting to create those new relationships and getting to know people.”

Tucker said that while it is his job to be a coach and win games on Friday nights, it is also his job to build up his players and make them into better men.

“Everybody wants to win. That is super important because that is the goal of the game. But at the same time, our jobs as teachers, coaches, and even parents are to help these young men grow,” said Tucker. “We need to help them to be better men, better husbands, and better dads because they are going to go down that road one day. And hopefully the life lessons I’ve learned and the mistakes I’ve made, I can pass on to these guys and they can learn from it and not make the same mistakes.”

Tucker comes to Demopolis from Bartlett High School in Tennessee where he built a 32-15 record over four seasons as the head coach. His family is originally from Linden, but he grew up in Fayette, AL where he attended high school. He attended the University of Alabama and then returned home to Fayette where he worked for his father-in-law and worked as an assistant with his father at Fayette High School.

His first coaching position was at Sipsey Valley High School in 2010 where he spent one year at the helm. After that, he spent eight years as the head coach at Fayette County totaling 76 wins and three state championship appearances. In 2019, Tucker moved out-of-state to Tennessee where he coached at Bartlett High School for the last four years.