Lloyd is new football coach at Pope John Paul 2
MADISON- David Lloyd doesn’t flinch in the face of a huge task, in fact he welcomes it. The Mississippi native was coaching football in North Carolina when he applied and was hired in late April.
“I came down for 2 weeks in May and met the players and we practiced in shorts and helmets for four days,” Lloyd said. “There were other things we needed to handle before we got to the football part of it and I had to return to my job in North Carolina and finish the semester so I got here for good in June.”
Lloyd said that his wife is from Decatur and they are building a house in Priceville and are glad to be back in the south.
“It’s been a real blessing for us,” Lloyd said.
John Mumford was the coach last year when the Falcons went 0-10.
Lloyd played high school football in Mississippi then worked administratively in the football program at Mississippi College, a Division 3 program. He graduated from Mississippi College and has been coaching high school football for 12 years.
For years Pope John Paul 2 has been a force in basketball and added football 5 years ago.
The school has experienced growth since opening the upper division campus on Old Madison Pike 4 years ago. The school now has around 400 students which is good for education but not so for football. With the multiplier used by the AHSAA for private schools the Falcons were placed in tough Class 5A Region 8 with traditional football powers Russellville, Brooks, East Limestone, Jemison, Lee, and Ardmore.
The team will play home games at Discovery.
“Our kids work extremely hard and are excited about the season. They are great kids they are there every day trying to improve. We just lack the numbers of all the teams in our region. We should be playing like 3A competition. We are outnumbered but football is football the other team can only put eleven on the field just like we can so we have to be a little smarter. We are not going to out-athlete many of the teams we play so we have to find things that work for us and gain small victories and turn things positive.”
Lloyd had his team getting work on the passing game in the Rocket City 7on7 passing tournament earlier this month.
Seth Brown is a sophomore quarterback. The Falcons were mostly a running team last year but Lloyd will run more of a passing offense with Brown. Joe Skarupa is a big target at tight end. His brother Joe also plays both ways as do most of the players.
