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Savannah State names Theo Lemon head
football coach
April 10, 2006
SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Savannah State University has named Theo
Lemon as its next head football coach.The announcement was
made by Athletic Director Robert “Tony” O’Neal
on Monday afternoon. Lemon becomes the 20th head football
coach in a 91-year span and replaces Richard Basil
who resigned in March.
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Theo Lemon |
“We felt that Theo Lemon’s skills and collegiate
coaching experience will help kick start our football program,” O’Neal
said. “It is great to be in a position to bring in a
coach with the credentials of Theo Lemon. He has a winning
attitude and has been a part of a number of successful programs.”
Lemon has over twenty years of coaching experience on the collegiate
level and four years of collegiate head coaching experience.
He was named head coach at Central State University in 2003.
He reestablished a Central State football program that had
been dormant since 1996. With a team of walk-on players, Central
State played its first full season in 2005 and finished with
a 1-5 record.
“I am excited about the chance to come to Savannah State
as the head football coach,” Lemon said. “The opportunity
to compete and coach on the Division I-AA level is something
I have been looking forward to my whole career. I know it will
be a challenge, but I plan on it also being a rewarding experience.”
Prior, to coaching at Central State, Lemon served as the head
football coach at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill.,
from 2001 to 2002. From 1996-2000 he was an assistant football
coach at Wake Forest. In 1999, Lemon was part of the Wake Forest
coaching staff that guided the team to a 7-5 record and advanced
to a postseason bowl game for the first time since 1992. In
2000, he was promoted to assistant head coach and co-defensive
coordinator for the Demon Deacons.
Lemon’s collegiate coaching career also includes stints
at Rutgers, East Carolina State University, Northeastern, Kentucky
State and a graduate assistantship at Ohio University.
He served as the linebackers coach at Rutgers for two years
and defensive line coach at East Carolina for one season in
1993. In 1991 and 1992, he was the defensive coordinator at
Northeastern. At Kentucky State, he was named interim head
coach (1984) and also served as defensive backs coach and outside
linebackers coach (1983).
From 1985 to 1990, Lemon was the defensive coordinator, offensive
line coach and running backs coach at Central State. He helped
lead the school to six consecutive postseason appearances and
the 1990 NAIA National Championship.
Lemon has also been an NFL Summer Intern Coach with the Los
Angeles Raiders in 1992 and the San Francisco 49’ers
in 1995.
Lemon, 48, earned his bachelor’s degree from Ohio University
in 1980 and his master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling
in 1990. As a player for Ohio University, he was a four-year
starter at the defensive back position.
The Massillon, Ohio, native is married to Channon Lemon and
the couple has two sons, Willis, 12, and Dean, 9.
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