Clements named Lakeside AD

By Andy Brown

Published: May 30, 2008

There was a time when t-shirts reading “Got Mock? Got Clements?” were the rage among Lakeside fans.

They were referring to head football coach Duane Mock and offensive coordinator Tom Clements.

It may be time for Chiefs’ fans to update their game-day wardrobe with t-shirts that simply read, “Got Clements?”

Mock has resigned his post as athletic director, head football coach and head baseball coach to accept a position as a physical education teacher at Eufaula Primary School.

Clements, who left Lakeside at the end of the 2007 baseball season and later returned as offensive coordinator and head basketball coach for the 2007-08 football and basketball seasons, will take over the school’s athletics director role, while also serving as the head football coach, head basketball coach and head baseball coach.

“(Tom) is admired and respected by our students,” Lakeside principal Miranda Watson said. “He’ll work to build a complete athletic program at Lakeside.”

When Clements stepped away from Lakeside following a 51-46 loss to Chambers in the Class AA, East Region basketball tournament Feb. 1 that ended the Chiefs’ season, he didn’t believe he would ever return to Lakeside. 

“When I left it never crossed my mind that I’d be coming back to Lakeside,” said Clements, who has been working with the Eufaula Parks and Recreation Department since February. “To be honest, I’m kind of shocked with how things turned out. I guess you can’t ever say never.”

Clements will not teach a class at Lakeside, which will free him up to continue to pursue a social science degree at Troy University-Dothan.

As part of his compensation package, Lakeside will pay for his tuition.

“That was a big reason for my agreeing to come back,” Clements said. “For me to have my school paid for was huge. After talking with my family, everyone seemed to feel like this was the right move. It’s something I couldn’t pass up.”

In first season at the helm of all three Lakeside programs, Clements will have his work cut out for him as he takes on what amounts to an all-out rebuilding process in all three sports.

He inherits a football team that posted a 7-3 mark in 2007 and was ousted from playoffs in the first round. That squad featured 10 seniors, nine of which were starters.

Under Clements’ direction, the Chiefs finished with a 15-12 record on the hardwood. Last season’s squad featured five seniors, including three who saw action in the starting lineup at various times during the season.

On the diamond, Lakeside posted a 19-10 mark and advanced to the second round of the AISA playoffs before dropping a best-of-three series to Southern. The Chiefs’ every-day lineup featured six senior starters.

“It’ll be a challenge, but the kids at Lakeside always work hard,” he said. “They’ll do whatever you ask them to do. It’ll take some time, but we’ll get to where we want to be.”

Rebuilding programs is something Clements is at least somewhat familiar with.

In 1999, Clements took over a Dixie baseball team that won just three games the previous season.

Two years later the Rebels posted an 18-7 mark and made an appearance in the Final Four. The next season they finished as the state runner-up.

While at Dixie he also helped turn around the girls’ basketball program. The year before he took over the Lady Rebels won five games.

With Clements at the helm of the program, the Lady Rebels averaged 16 wins a season for the next five years and earned their first ever Alabama Sports Writers Association top-10 ranking.

After leaving Dixie for Lakeside, Clements continued to turn out winners.

In four seasons at Lakeside, he has won 76 basketball games while leading the Chiefs to the 2007 Final Four.

He’s led Lakeside to 51 wins on the diamond and an appearance in the 2006 Final Four and has helped guide the Chiefs to a 28-14 mark on the gridiron.

He has 100-plus wins in both baseball and basketball during his nine-year coaching career.