Lebanon hires new football coach

Matthew Hopkins has been named the next varsity head football coach for Lebanon High School.

Hopkins served as the head football coach for Preble Shawnee High School, where last year the team had the most wins in school history.

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He will be replacing Shawn Lamb, who led the Warriors for the past 13 seasons and “decided to step away for personal reasons,” according to a press release issued by the school district.

Lebanon was a combined 76-55 with Lamb as head coach and won Greater Western Ohio Conference divisional titles in 2006, ’09 and ’11. But the Warriors closed last season with one win in their last seven games. Lebanon was 3-7 overall and 0-3 in the GWOC National West. Springboro defeated Lebanon 38-7 in the regular-season finale.

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Hopkins will also serve the district as the student services administrator at Lebanon High School. The board is to create this job at a board meeting Tuesday.

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Hopkins is a 2002 graduate of Preble-Shawnee, where he was a four-year starter at quarterback for the Arrows.

He is a 2006 graduate of Miami University, where he received his degree in education. Prior to serving as head coach at Preble-Shawnee, Hopkins worked as an assistant coach at Eaton High School for seven years, five in which the team went to the playoffs.

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Hopkins will be meeting with returning players in the near future to introduce himself, discuss off-season conditioning and establish goals for the upcoming season. He will also be working with the athletic director in filling his assistant coaching positions in the upcoming weeks. A public meet-and-greet event is being planned for a future date.

“I am very excited to welcome Mr. Hopkins to Lebanon High School as our Student Services Administrator and football coach. I want to thank the selection committee for their hard work and commitment in finding a great educator and coach. I encourage our community to rally around Coach Hopkins, his staff, and the football program,” Todd Yohey, superintendent of Lebanon City Schools, said in the release.

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