Lamar’s Land named MAIS Class 4 Division 3 Coach of the Year

Published 5:37 pm Monday, December 15, 2025

Lamar School head football coach Jacob Land understands that sole concentration on the win column leads to a less than fulfilling coaching career.

“I want them to understand what it means to be a Godly man, teammate, husband and father,” Land said. “I want them to understand that they need to listen to me and the other coaches, that they need to buy in to what we’re doing here.”

It was that philosophy on and off the gridiron, along with their performance that turned this into a special season. The Raiders won the MAIS Class 4A state championship and Land to be named the Class 4A, Division 3 Coach of the Year.

Four players from this year’s team were also named to MAIS Class 4A All-Football Team — junior starting quarterback Sullivan Reed, senior wide receiver-defensive back Jalin Trotter, senior linebacker Tyler Brown, and senior defensive back-wide receiver Mikeal Willis.

“We talked about this as a coaching staff well before the season,” Land said. “We wanted to win as many games as possible, but more importantly, we wanted to see the character level of this team build. We wanted to become better people. Winning was secondary.”

This year’s state championship was the first one at Lamar School since 2018. It was also the fourth consecutive time the Raiders made the playoffs under fourth-year head coach Land, who has compiled a 29-20 overall record at Lamar School.

Land said he learned a lot from his father, Termie Land, a former head football coach at Pillow Academy and head of school at Lamar School.

“He taught me about discipline and understanding,” Land said. “He taught me that if during the first three years of your career, your only goal is winning, you’re going to have some tough seasons. Your big goal should be to make them Godly men: something the world needs more of.”

Land said he has summertime classes for his junior and sophomore players to take.

The juniors are required to attend the class named after the book from which they read: “Habitudes: The Art of Self-Leadership.”

Sophomores, meanwhile, take a class called Two Words, which focuses on what leadership beyond football looks like.

Reed said after last season, the Raiders were determined to be a brotherhood.

“We wanted to play together going into this season,” Reed said. “We formed a special bond. Everybody is everybody’s brother. We’ve learned to be together and stay in the moment.”

The Raiders saw their 2024 campaign end in 31-21 loss to Magnolia Academy in the second round of the playoffs.

Brown said the team’s loss of all its departing seniors helped build the momentum for this season.

“The underclassmen who came in knew they were going to have to do their jobs,” he said. “We knew we had lost all our seniors, but we felt like we could accomplish anything.”

In 2025, Lamar School won its first two games. Trotter said the team’s aggressive play and belief in each other began during summer practice and was ignited by strength and conditioning coach Bryant Elmore.

“He got here at the end of last season,” Trotter said of Elmore. “He came here from Alabama with the energy and drive to put us through a lot. He pushed us through a lot of different conditions.”

Reed said goals put forth by Land and the other coaches made 2025 a special season.

“It was the whole coaching staff,” he said. “No one person is going to win a football game.

“We had Winston Academy at home,” Reed added. “We knew what it would take to win. We came into that game feeling bigger, faster and stronger.”

Willis said despite coming off a couple of bad losses before the playoffs, Land really helped the Raiders recover and come out of the second round of this year’s playoffs with a 42-14 win over Cathedral.

“Going into the season,” Willis said, “we had a feeling that we had a pretty good chance of winning it all. We had a really strong brotherhood.”

Land said his father, the current Head of School at Madison Ridgeland Academy, told him that he is so much more proud of the wins his son has recorded at Lamar School.

“The biggest thing he’s proud of,” Land said, “is that I’m coaching the right way. I’m investing in the kids and making them into Godly men.”

As for the future, all three seniors have great expectations for themselves and the Raiders for 2026.

“As long as they continue to bond and grow as a team, they’ll be fine,” Trotter said. “Coach Land has made this team really big on leadership and accountability.”

Trotter added that he discovered he and three of his teammates had been named to the MAIS Class 4A All-Football Team on Dec. 8. Trotter, who was also named to the team in 2024, said he had an idea he was going to make the team again after all his hard work in the summer.

“I went to the weight room and learned my routes a lot better,” he said.

Trotter said his future plans include attending and playing football for North Alabama University and majoring in Business.

Brown, who led the team with an average of 12.7 tackles per game this season, said the team’s hard work in the summer is a key.

“We had something called Toughness Tuesday in practice over the summer,” Brown said. “We went to the weight room and worked out there. That’s got to continue.”

Like the other two seniors, Willis echoed the importance of hard work and closeness among the players.

Willis who signed Friday to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, said he wants to become a Naval officer.