Elwood Townsend Accepts Football Head Coaching Position at Lewis

Elwood Townsend, who led the Douglass football team from Baltimore City to two straight MPSSAA 1A state finals appearances in 2013 and 2014, has accepted the head coaching position at Reginald F. Lewis High School. It's a big get for the Baltimore City School, as many different schools were in contact with Townsend about coming to coach their football program.

Townsend resigned from Douglass towards the end of November.

"The sky is the limit at Lewis. It's a huge school, the school isn't at full capacity," Townsend said. "They have some good facilities, a great field, and it has a lot of different things we can take advantage of to get the kids motivated."

In addition to the facilities, Townsend said that his conversation with principal Janine Patterson played a big part in his decision. He liked her vision for the future of the school, and the role that athletics played in that vision. To Townsend, it seemed like the perfect fit for him.

On the football field, Townsend is inheriting a squad from previous coach Donte' Foster who finished 4-6 in 2015, an improvement from their two win season in 2014. The situation should seem familiar to Townsend- when he first led Douglass to the playoffs in 2012, his second season at the helm of the program, it was just the second time in school history the team was in the postseason.

From what Townsend has seen, the entire school community is hungry to have a winning football culture, and he's hoping to get off to a good start in 2016.

"My short term goal is to improve on 4-6 and be .500, which I think is realistic. The players need guidance and want to win," Townsend said. "It's a schedule that I think we can compete with on a week by week basis. So our goal is .500 for the first year, but I also think we can push for the postseason."

Townsend is also excited about the team's prospects over the next two seasons. Lewis had 18 sophomores on their team this year, meaning if all goes right over the next year, he is going to have a large senior class at his disposal in 2017. That large class has the potential to set Lewis on the path that Townsend is envisioning for his program.

"Ultimately you want to win a 1A state championship. As the years progress and the kids get older, we can really compete," Townsend said. "We just want to go out there and compete every week, and show that we can play just as well as anybody else."