ZIONSVILLE — From the moment Pat Echeverria met Austin Lacy, he could tell the high school junior had a coach’s brain hiding underneath his football helmet.
Four years later, the two would become co-workers.
Lacy, a former Eastern Hancock quarterback, has just been brought on as Zionsville High School’s assistant quarterback coach. Lacy will work alongside his old coach, helping junior varsity and freshman quarterbacks with skill and strategy development.
After graduating from Eastern Hancock in 2015, Lacy attended Ball State University to study Public Relations. When he wasn’t hitting the books, he worked as a coach at Delta Middle School in Delaware County during his junior and senior years.
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Lacy earned his degree in just three years, and after moving back to the Indianapolis area, he got in touch with his old coach, Echeverria, now the head football coach at Zionsville, who extended the job offer to him.
Lacy is looking forward to practicing every day with his old mentor, he said. Having trained similar strategies in his high school years, he hopes his familiarity with the game plan will be an advantage has he grows accustomed to becoming a new coach.
Individual athletic abilities and coaching abilities go hand in hand, Echeverria said. As his former coach, Echeverria had the chance to get acquainted with the way Lacy’s mind would operate when it came to running an offensive strategy, he said.
“He’s a cerebral player with a very centered mind,” Echeverria said. “His biggest strength was his mind for the game, and that’s 100 percent transferable to coaching.”
In the first two games the Royals played in Lacy’s junior year, he wasn’t initially slated to be the starting quarterback, Echeverria said. But he ended up starting for the first two and a half games, and he led the team to two decisive victories, one of which was against Tri-Central — the same team they would battle at the state championships later that year.
He seemed to have a knack for seeing the game as a whole, Echeverria said.
“I have a really good memory of him stepping up and doing what he needed to do to be successful that year,” Echeverria said.
“I think that’s what translates to being a good coach,” he added. “It’s not just being an incredible athlete, it’s not just being better than the person across from them. You have to understand all the levels.”
Recently retired Eastern Hancock coach Jim O’Hara said it makes sense for Austin to end up where he did so quickly.
Having graduated from college after only three years of study, Austin is only 21 years old, and having young blood on a high school coaching staff is a valuable asset these days, O’Hara said.
He should have no trouble helping students learn how to get the ball into the right receiver’s hands, he said.
“He’s very knowledgeable about passing offense, and this fits like a glove,” O’Hara said. “He’s a hard worker, and just a lot of fun to be around. He’s a successful athlete with a coach’s mindset.”
Football has been Lacy’s favorite sport since he was five years old, and he said he’s fought to make sure he continued keeping the game in his life and career after graduation.
There will surely be a short adjustment period as he makes the jump from training 14-year-old to 18-year-old football players, but he anticipates that he’ll adapt quickly to working with students at the JV and freshman level, he said.
“(Coaching) is about having a different mindset,” Lacy said. “It’s trying to relate the knowledge you have based on the playbook, getting guys in the right spot personnel-wise.”
Above all, Lacy can’t wait to be back into the competitive environment he learned to love as a high school quarterback. Jogging onto the field with his team underneath Friday night lights is a feeling he can’t wait to relish again, he said.
Echeverria said it’s always fun to see a coach grow up. It’s interesting to watch them react to the rowdy parents in the stands, each of them claiming to have the answers to what the coach should and shouldn’t be doing throughout the game, he said. He can’t wait to see what kind of coach Lacy will become as he makes his way through the trials and tribulations of a first year coach, he said.
He’s certain Austin will make a fine addition to Zionsville’s team, he added.
“He was a great athlete and a pleasure to coach,” he said. “I always knew he was going to be a coach.”
