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Since LaFayette head football coach and athletic director James Lucas decided to step away from the program on Dec. 19, the Chambers County School District has been looking for a new coach to lead the Bulldogs. At the school board’s first meeting of the new year, his replacement was named.

Juan Williams was unanimously approved by the board on Wednesday.

Williams brings plenty of coaching experience, as he has been a head coach since 2006.

Williams has three stops on his coaching career, with most of his time at Barbour County.

He joins the Bulldogs after two years at Greensboro High School. He led the Raiders to a 2-8 record this past season.

Overall, he has a 56-88 record in his 14 years of coaching.

His best season was 2011. In that season, he led Barbour County to the second round of the 2A playoffs. The Jaguars finished 8-4.

Williams has six years of coaching experience in 2A, which were his first six years as a head coach. He went 28-35 from 2006-11.

In 2008, Williams led Barbour County to an 8-3 record, which was the best in program history. That same year, he was named Wiregrass Coach of the Year, as he helped win the school’s first reign title.

One of the qualities that made Williams so appealing to Chambers County superintendent Dr. Kelli Hodge was his stability.

“So often when you see a coaching resume, you will see that they move from here to here to here,” Hodge said. “This man has been a coach since 2006, and he’s only been at three schools.”

Alongside his stability, Williams wants to connect the athletics with the school’s academics.

“In his interview, he was very much about the academics of all students, and the importance of the school,” Hodge said. “The sports program would be a way to connect the school to the community. He was very pro-school, not just football.”

Williams has shown the ability to build and increase a budget, as he increased Monroe County’s athletic budget from $1,200 to more than $12,000.

Williams’s tenure will start on Feb. 1. He will be a physical education teacher, athletic director and football coach.