New Kent State Football Coach Begins Preparing for Season
Written by BSR Web Staff on March 16, 2018
Kent State University has a new head football coach. With National Signing Day in the past, Sean Lewis must begin preparing his team for the start of the season, both on and off the field.
Sean Lewis spent the last two seasons as Syracuse University’s co-offensive coordinator. Now, he is the youngest Division I football coach at just 31 years old, tasked with turning around a 2-10 team. However, Lewis does not see his age as a disadvantage.
“One of my mentors has a great saying that I love when it comes to pressure. It’s that ‘pressure is something that you apply; it’s not something that you feel.’ We have young guys on our staff, and yes, I am young. I have that title, and that’s fine. But I truly believe that age is a number, and that if you prepare yourself and you’re ready and people believe in you, then you have the job and regardless of what your age is, your task with that challenge, whatever the case that might be with that objective, you go and you get it done.”
Lewis spent the previous six years with Syracuse head coach Dino Babers. Now leading his own team, Lewis plans to influence his players in a similar way.
“We’re obviously going to make them better football players at the end of the day, but our number one focus here is to help them become better young men and to grow as human beings and be positive role models.”
Recent developments at Michigan State University have found that the football program allegedly covered up sexual assaults. With that in mind, Lewis agrees that connecting with the community and pulling the curtains back is important. He believes his philosophies will help create and maintain a positive culture with his players.
“That’s kind of our day-to-day…in helping our young men grow, educating them about the society that they live in. And a big part of what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna treat everyone with respect and use the golden rule. So, by growing our young men the right way, hopefully we’re not in a situation like that. And we’ll do things the proper way so that no one gets embarrassed that’s a part of the Kent State family when it comes to those sorts of issues.”
And while Coach has big goals for his team on the field in the future, he is taking things one step at a time.
“We are going to work each and every single day to be at our best, and then we are going to constantly better our best and raise the standards so that ultimately, we get to those lofty expectations. But right now, it’s about doing what’s best on this day 2018, so that we can give ourselves a chance tomorrow morning to be at the team run on time and have a better team run tomorrow morning than we had yesterday morning.”
The first chance to get a look at the Lewis-led Flashes is April 14, in the team’s Spring Game at Dix Stadium.
Image courtesy of USDA
