Mitchell ousted after 34 years as Lynn Camp football coach

Veteran Lynn Camp Football Coach David Mitchell was fired Monday morning by Knox County Superintendent Walter T. Hulett.
Mitchell confirmed in a Monday afternoon interview that he had been let go after 34 years with the Lynn Camp football program.

“Right now I am trying to look at things positively. I’ve been here 35 years, 34 as head coach. I have a lot of good memories and a lot of good relationships,” Mitchell said.

“Right now I am looking at the positive things. I didn’t want to go out this way, but unfortunately I have,” he said. “It wasn’t my decision. I guess Mr. Hulett felt the football program needed new direction and new leadership.”

Mitchell met with Hulett Monday morning and said it wasn’t a surprise that he was let go.

“Not to me it wasn’t a surprise. I think it was to a lot of people around me and close to me, but I wasn’t surprised.”

“It’s been hard on the people close to me in particular my wife, knowing what I have put into the program and what I brought to the program and how much of myself that I put into the program and how much our family has sacrificed,” Mitchell said. It was probably harder on her and my kids than anyone else. I was coaching when I met my wife and none of them have known me without me coaching Lynn Camp football.”

Although Mitchell did not meet with the players, a lot of the current Wildcats and former players did show up at the Mitchell house to wish him well.

“I have encouraged the players to stay together. We have gone through some tough years and maybe they can use this to ban together and try to have a good year,” Mitchell added.

“I would like to see them make an improvement and do things better,” he said.

The Wildcats had their first ever-winless season under Mitchell last season. The team lost 13 games in a row dating back to the 2010 season. The last victory came against the Berea Pirates, Oct. 22, 2010 when the Wildcats beat the Pirates 20-14 to take three-seed into the Class A region playoffs.

“It made it easier for them to get rid of me,” Mitchell said of the winless season. “We had never had one of those at Lynn Camp until this past year.”

“It was a combination of things that lead to the winless season,” he added. “A lack of talent and a lack of commitment. I told some people that ultimately the coach is responsible and I felt like the last few years we have not worked like we needed to.”

“Maybe the situation will be better without me being there,” Mitchell said. “That’s the only way you can look at it right now.”

“We have struggled the last few years, but for 20 years we were one of the top Class A programs in the state,” Mitchell said. “We won more playoff games than any team in our district or region in Class A.”

“Personally I don’t know anyone who has had to coached in a tougher situation than we have at Lynn Camp,” he said.

Mitchell has not ruled out coaching again. “At this point I would like to be somewhere next year coaching again,” he said. “That may change the first of July and I may not miss it as much as I think I will. At this point I am looking for…a job.”
Mitchell has the option of just moving on now that he has retired as a teacher. “I don’t have any regrets.”

He said there are many, many memories on the field, but the thing that sticks out most “are the relationships I have with my players.”

“In coaching you never win enough games to satisfy yourself and certainly not the alumni or your supporters. You remember some tough games that you lost but you try to go back and remember some of the runs that we have had and some of the good teams. Right now I just try to remember the positive things,” Mitchell said.

When you think of Lynn Camp football, you think of David Mitchell. “This is not the way I wanted to go out,” he said. “I wanted to go out on my own terms, but sometimes that is not the option.”

Hulett’s office did confirm that Mitchell is no longer the head coach at Lynn Camp according to Public Relations Director Frank Shelton.