POCA, W.Va. –The overall success former Poca head football coach Bob Lemley had during his tenure with the Dots surprised even him, to an extent.
“I was surprised, more than anything else, that we were able to accomplish what we did,” Lemley said on MetroNews High School Sportsline. “We worked hard and sometimes the chemistry was right – that happened for us a few times.
“I don’t know that we had the best players, but we had the best team on those nights. We had some good seasons,” he continued. “I’ve been blessed and fortunate to have some good players from time-to-time and it just worked out well for us.”
Lemley ended his 24-year tenure with the Dots after this past season, putting up an overall record of 141-128. His teams won four state championships during that time (1994, 2001, 2002, 2003) and had a state runner-up season in 1996.
“It just seemed like on Friday nights, especially late in the year, we started to gel, played better, the chemistry was there, and there wasn’t one guy who wanted to hog the show,” he said of those teams. “I called all the plays for years and years and didn’t take just one guy and give him the ball all the time – we just did what we could to win the game. They were unselfish, but they played hard.”
Lemley’s all-time playoff record finished at 23-7, but his teams made the postseason just twice in the past 10 years, including a 1-9 record in 2013.
“As I think about it, it went by really fast. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it,” he said. “About the last year or so I’ve been thinking about turning it over to someone else. After this season, I thought it was a good time to do that. But I enjoyed every season and all the players and all the coaches.”
The complete interview with Lemley is posted above.