Amherst Lancers football coach to take W&L job

By Aaron Lee
The New Era-Progress
Published: March 19, 2008

Lancer head football coach Scott Abell said today that he has been offered, and plans to accept, a coaching position at Washington & Lee University.

Abell, who led the Lancers to back-to-back state championships in 2006 and 2007, said W&L has offered him a position as an offensive coordinator.

Abell said he plans to give his resignation to the county’s school board on Thursday night.

“Amherst County has been a life changing experience for me and my family,” Abell, who recently completed his sixth season, said. “There will always be a part of my heart that belongs to the Lancers.”

Since 2002 Abell has amassed a 60-12 record.

“It was a rough afternoon … a lot of emotions,” Abell said of telling his players on Tuesday about his decision to leave. “Without hesitation it is one of the more difficult decisions I’ve made in my life.”

He said he’d been approached by other schools in recent months but said the W&L position was the “the only one that I truly considered.”

He said W&L approached him about six weeks ago and he turned down the job. The offer came back up recently and he accepted.

In 2006, W&L won its first Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship since 1985. Last year the Generals finished 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the ODAC. It was the fourth straight year the program finished the season with a winning record.

Abell is a former standout with Longwood University’s baseball program and played in the college World Series in 1991.

He was later drafted by the Kansa City Royals and hit a home run his first professional time at bat

His first football head-coaching job was at Liberty High School in 1997. That year his team finished 0-10.

In 2007, he led the Lancers to a 14-0 record with the 56-10 state-title win against Sherando in December.

“It’s been an unbelievable six years,” Abell said.