Lee Preaching the Gospel on Day One

[Aggie One]

Snipet from today's press conference -

www.digtriad.com/video/default.aspx?storyid=117631&cat=216&aid=215183

[AggieGroove]

Wow! He's going to be a fierce one!

[Maxell]

Let the church say ...

[Maxell]

GREENSBORO, January 16, 2009 -- "Defense is supposed to inflict bodily harm." With that statement from Alonzo Lee, Sr., at a Monday afternoon press conference at the Alumni-Event Center, a new era in North Carolina A&T football was ushered in -- a defensive one. Lee became the 17th head coach in the history of the program after being announced by director of athletics Wheeler Brown

That statement alone wins seven games. It made me want go hit somebody knowing I'd be the one needing the ambulance afterwards. My wife in the background saying, "Don't even think it."

[Aggie One]

www.ncataggies.com/Football/2008%20articles/Lee%20Release.htm

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AGGIES ANNOUNCE LEE AS NEW FOOTBALL COACH

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Lee becomes the 17th head football coach in A&T’s history

GREENSBORO, January 16, 2009 – North Carolina A&T State University director of athletics Wheeler Brown announced today the hiring of Alonzo Lee Sr. as the new head football coach.

Lee comes to A&T after spending three seasons as Morgan State University’s defensive coordinator. Over the past two seasons, Lee’s defenses have ranked among the top two in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA). In 2008, the Bears led the nation in total defense. No team gained more than 350 yards of offense against Morgan State in the last two seasons.

“Alonzo Lee has been an accomplished coordinator and assistant in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference for many years,” said Brown. “Lee has proven that he has the ability to win as a head coach. He knows this conference, what it will take to win in the conference, and will bring the needed toughness and discipline our football program has lacked over the past few years.”

MEAC sidelines have been graced by Lee’s presence over the past 25 years. In seven of those seasons, Lee was a part of a MEAC Championship team. At three of the universities where he won championships – Howard, Hampton and A&T – Lee was the assistant head coach. He served as A&T’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach during the 2003-05 seasons.

Lee’s defensive unit helped the Aggies win the 2003 MEAC title. During the 03 season, the Aggies ranked No. 1 in the MEAC in total defense. Nationally, the Aggies defense ranked third in total defense, third in pass defense and sixth in turnover margin. Two years later, the Aggies defense was still strong. They ranked third in pass defense and fourth in sacks in the MEAC.

Prior to coaching at A&T, Lee also served as an assistant at Howard, Florida A&M and Hampton. He won his first MEAC championship as an assistant head coach at Howard in 1987. Florida A&M won three MEAC titles during Lee’s tenure (1990, 1995, 1996), and Hampton won two (1997, 1998) under the defensive leadership of Lee.

In 1998 as the defensive coordinator at Hampton, Lee was honored as the National Assistant Coach of the Year for NCAA Division I-AA. Three seasons later, he was honored by the All-America Football Foundation as an Outstanding Assistant Coach.

Off the field, Lee maintains a strong reputation as an exceptional leader and strong proponent of student-athletes receiving a quality education. During his time as an assistant coach at A&T, Lee started a gospel choir comprised of Aggie football players that performed for church groups and other community organizations in Greensboro.

“In addition to his coaching accomplishments, Alonzo brings a strong sense of community involvement and academics at the collegiate level. I have known him for many years and he is a man of integrity,” said Brown.

[DECKS]

I think his success will ultimately come down to his offensive philosophy. For all of his great defensive stats, Morgan State never finished over .500 during his time there.

[Aggie One]

Alonzo Lee era dawns at A&TSaturday, January 17 ( updated 7:43 am)
By Robert Bell
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO -- For all the weighty matters that lie ahead for Alonzo Lee -- implementing a new offense and defense, completing his staff, meeting with current players and recruits -- his immediate priority is decidedly mundane.

Lee, introduced Friday as the head football coach of N.C. A&T, has a skeleton staff of coaches who have been in limbo throughout the university's prolonged search to replace Lee Fobbs. He plans to provide them with a schedule and offseason calendar as quickly as possible. That's because Lee, who is known among his peers for his organization and attention to detail, has much to accomplish this month, with 19 recruits paying a visit to A&T this weekend and the national signing day looming Feb. 4.

And there is no time to waste regarding the chore that might come to define his coaching tenure -- weeding out a small group of football players perceived by many last season as quitters and replacing them with athletes who fit his mold of tough, relentless Aggies.

"There are a lot of things that haven't been done, but I can promise you we'll get them done and before the next season," Lee said. "And come next season we'll have some men who will fight for four quarters."

At times, Friday's introduction of Lee, who spent the past three years as MEAC rival Morgan State's defensive coordinator, seemed less a news conference and more a tent revival.

Quiet and reserved in the weeks leading to his hiring, Lee spoke Friday with passion and volume about his determination to turn around a football program that has lost 36 of its last 39 games.

Lee, who signed a four-year contract that will pay him $145,000 annually, said he was "ordained to be here, because I walk in faith."

And to doubters he added this: "I talk a little loud, I talk with vigor. I'm just foolish enough to have no fears. I know what the record was here a year ago (3-9). But it's just like when I walked into Morgan State. They never played defense and we ended up with the No. 3 defense in the country when I first got there. We moved up to No. 2 the next year and last year moved up to No. 1. Bottom line, I just have faith in my ability to mold men because its my God-given talent."

For the rest of the story - www.news-record.com/content/2009/01/17/article/alonzo_lee_era_dawns_at_at

[Aggie One]

Hardin: 'Great' future for N.C. A&T about distant past Saturday, January 17 ( updated 7:35 am)

GREENSBORO -- N.C. A&T began the painful and familiar process of starting over again Friday with the naming of still another football coach. Alonzo Lee, preaching the gospel of defense, will have to begin the painstaking task of catching up before yet another year passes by the Aggies.

The fifth head football coach at A&T in eight seasons, Lee was given a mandate to turn around a program that had bottomed out long before the last coach was fired. He said it might take some time, which is something the Aggies don't really want to hear right now, but he said he would take the time to do it right.

"I'm coming into a program not concerned about the past," said Lee, who coached defense at A&T from 2003-2005. "I'm going to be concerned about the future. The future of this program is going to be great."

Lee called A&T a "sleeping giant," and no one would dispute that. The problem is, the giant has been sleeping for some time now, and the conference the Aggies once controlled has gotten better. The NCAA division the MEAC plays in, the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) has gotten better. A&T is probably further away from national significance now than it has ever been.

Lee, 51, watched it from afar, coaching the defense at Morgan State and drawing up plans to take down A&T, which the Bears did three of the past four seasons. Morgan defeated the Aggies 44-3 in October, a homecoming game that might've been the final blow for former coach Lee Fobbs.

For the rest of the story - www.news-record.com/content/2009/01/17/article/aposgreat_future_for_nc_at_all_about_the_distant_past

[pj]

WOW!!!... fire & desire. I think that this Brother has something to prove to the League!