Lancaster To End Coaching Career In 2009
Legendary head football coach Ron Lancaster has announced that the upcoming season will be his last after more than four decades in the high school game.

Lancaster's resume includes state championship seasons at Enid and Jenks along with success at Muskogee, Sallisaw and in California.

During Saturday's final spring scrimmage for his Tigers, NewsChannel 8's Chris Lincoln spoke with Lancaster about what we can expect his final squad to look like.

"I haven't been totally convinced, but my wife Sharon is convinced that this definitely is our last year," Lancaster says. "She's ready to travel and have a little fun and do some things and I intend to do that."

Lancaster's Tigers are talking about unfinished business. Last year, a 4-and-0 start had the team ranked number one in the state. Those four wins included victories over eventual 6A champion Union and 5A champ Booker T. Washington.

But, the season ended with a disappointing second-round playoff loss at Mustang and a 9-and-3 overall record, losing to teams they might should have beaten.

"Well, I don't know about shoulda, but coulda," Lancaster says. "And, I think in our business, or in any kind of competitive field, coaches and players always feel like they have a chance to win. But, I truly thought that last year we had an excellent chance of winning. And, we had some things go wrong. We had some injuries and some things at the end that kept us from maybe reaching the goals we wanted."

Lancaster says he hopes his third year at Broken Arrow will bring the town its first championship team.

"It's a brand new season and the third year you should have it together," he says. "Now, whether we win the state championship I don't know. But, we'd better have a good understanding of what it takes to get there. And, I think this team does and I know our coaching staff is fully capable of getting them to that position. But, it takes a lot of luck and you've got to have a player or two that steps up. And, I've seen evidence of it already this spring that we have some senior leadership that maybe we didn't have last year that I think we may have this year."

Broken Arrow will get things started with a home game against defending 6A champ Union on September fourth. The Redskins will be looking to avenge last season's opening game loss to the Tigers.