Today’s interviewee is Lincoln County coach Lee Chomskis, who is in his first season in Lincolnton after 13 in Vidalia, where his teams were 101-45 with two region titles. Chomskis has strong ties to Lincoln County. His mother is a Lincoln County graduate and former homecoming queen; his uncle Dan Pitts, who won more than 300 Georgia games as Mary Persons’ coach, is a Lincolnton native; and his Little League baseball coach for a time was Larry Campbell, who won 13 football state titles at the school. Chomskis was on Campbell’s Lincoln County staff for the Red Devils’ last state championship teams of 2005 and 2006.
Lee Chomskis, Lincoln County coach
1. What are your ties to Lincoln County? “My connection to Lincoln County comes from the Pitts family. My mother, aunts and uncles all attended Lincoln County High School. My grandmother lived there all of my life. I spent every summer there as a child and attended almost all of the Red Devil games until I began to play myself. I would be excited all day in school waiting for my mother to drive us to Lincolnton for a Friday night game. The electricity that was in the air was overwhelming for a kid that was in elementary school at the time. The Red Devil players were bigger than life to me and were celebrities while they played in Lincolnton. I remember people like Tim Patridge, W.T. Williams and Elec Bell. Names like Mathews, Glaze, Norman, Mason, McWhorter and Leroy are just a few that seem to have always had someone playing for the Red Devils. I remember riding bikes to watch both practices during two-a-days. Lincolnton is a great place to live and raise a family, and football has always been very important.”
2. What will it be like coaching your first game there? [Lincoln County opens its season at home tonight against Jeff Davis.] “I really haven’t had time to think about our first game. We have been so busy just trying to deal with the constant changes during these crazy times. The feelings that I have going into this first contest are pretty simple. We want to put a product on the field that the people of Lincoln County will be proud of. My goal and objective is to try to impact young people, to help them to see the value of hard work, selfless service, and to remember the history of this place.”
3. How does the team look this season? What level of talent did you find? “Our team is very young and inexperienced. We have five seniors along with only seven juniors that make up the 35 that are playing. We will have to grow up in a hurry. We are fortunate to have five non-region games to try and gain experience and improve. There are still some very talented players in Lincolnton. We just do not have as many of them as in 2005 and 2006. We are learning to work hard on a daily basis on the field and in the weight room. These 35 young men are moving in a positive direction each day.”
4. Have Lincoln County football, the community and the challenges of winning football in Class A changed since you were there before? “Lincoln County High School has changed a great deal since 2005-2006. In ’05-06 we had around 420 students in LCHS. This year we have around 315 students, and the result of that is we have less young men walking the halls. We have some larger classes coming in the near future. I believe this will enable us to see our numbers increase. The added depth would be very helpful to get our program on stable ground. The community has been wonderful. Many people have been involved in renovating facilities. We had a work day, and 70 people came out to lend a hand. Coach Larry Campbell has been incredible with his involvement and support. He has a lot of sweat in this place, and we don’t want to let him down. The people of Lincoln County have a great deal of pride and high expectations. We will continue to work to make each of them proud.”
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