James Paul Lake (born December 17, 1976) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach who is the assistant head coach for the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He was most recently the head coach at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

, from 2020 to 2021. Lake has coached at both the

(NFL) and

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

levels, primarily overseeing defensive backs. Lake played college football as a

strong safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the Hanfor ...

from 1995–1998.

Early years

military brat A military brat (colloquial or military slang) is a child of serving or retired military personnel. Military brats are associated with a unique subcultureDavid C. Pollock, Ruth E. van Reken. ''Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds'', Revise ...

, Lake was born in

Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland. With a total population of 70,127 per the 2020 census, Walnut Creek ser ...

; his father served in the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

and the family lived in various locations, including overseas tours in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. He attended North Central High School in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

, was a three-sport letterman for the Indians (

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

), and was recognized as a scholar-athlete. Lake played

for

Eastern Washington University Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a public university in Cheney, Washington. It also offers programs at a campus in EWU Spokane at the Riverpoint Campus and other campus locations throughout the state. Founded in 1882, the university is ...

in nearby Cheney as a

from 1995 to 1998, where he was an honorable-mention All- Big Sky recipient, team captain, and named to the All-Big Sky Conference Academic Team. After graduating from Eastern Washington in 1999, Lake worked as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respons ...

there during the spring before taking a full-time job with the

Spokane Indians The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Color ...

, a minor league baseball team, where he worked in ticket sales.

Coaching career

Lake returned to coaching for the 2000 season when Eastern Washington hired him as their defensive backs coach, replacing

Randy Hanson Randy Allan Hanson (born January 17, 1968) is an American football coach who served as an assistant with the Minnesota Vikings, St. Louis Rams, and Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). Hanson was put on a paid leave-of-absence i ...

. Lake stayed at Eastern Washington until 2004 when the

, located in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, hired him as defensive backs coach. The job change moved him to the western side of the state for the first time and up to the

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

(then called Division I-A). At Washington, he coached under defensive coordinator

Phil Snow Phillip Snow (born December 22, 1955) is an American football coach who was last the defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League. Early years Born in Woodland and raised in Winters, both in northern Californ ...

, who Lake called a "defensive back guru." The Huskies won a single game in 2004, leading to the dismissal of head coach

Keith Gilbertson Keith Steven Gilbertson Jr. (born May 15, 1948) is a retired American football coach and player. He was the head coach at the University of Idaho (1986–1988), the University of California, Berkeley (1992–1995), and the University of Washingto ...

and his staff. Lake landed at

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 6 ...

Bozeman, Montana Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of th ...

, under defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and head coach

Mike Kramer Michael David Kramer (born July 25, 1955) is a former American football coach and former player, most recently the head football coach at Idaho State University of the Big Sky Conference. Kramer was previously the head coach at two other schools ...

, both of whom had been at Eastern Washington during Lake's playing days. Following the 2005 season, Lake interviewed with Washington before accepting a job with the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

in the

as assistant defensive backs coach, working with defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin under head coach

Jon Gruden Jon David Gruden (born August 17, 1963) is a former American professional football coach who was a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He held his first head coaching position with the Raiders franchise during thei ...

. Lake left after two years to coach defensive backs with the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

, one of several Bucs assistants hired away by head coach

Rod Marinelli Rodney Marinelli (born July 13, 1949) is an American football coach. He has been a defensive coach for several college and professional teams, serving primarily as a defensive line coach when he has not been a coordinator. From 2006 until 2008, ...

, a long-time defensive line coach at Tampa Bay. The move reunited him with Snow, who had been in Detroit for several years coaching the linebackers. The

2008 Detroit Lions The 2008 Detroit Lions season was the franchise's 79th season in the National Football League (NFL), and their 75th as the Detroit Lions. The Lions made history by becoming the first team since the schedule was expanded to 16 games to finish winl ...

infamously went winless, the first NFL team to do so since the season expanded to 16 games, leading to the dismissal of Marinelli and his staff. Lake returned to Tampa Bay for the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

seasons as defensive backs coach under Raheem Morris, who had replaced Gruden as head coach in 2009.

Boise State

In 2012 and 2013 Lake worked as the defensive backs coach for Boise State.

Washington

Lake joined the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac- ...

staff in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

as a defensive backs coach under head coach

Chris Petersen Christopher Scott Petersen (born October 13, 1964) is a former American football coach who was most recently the head coach at the University of Washington. Previously the head coach for eight seasons at Boise State University, Petersen guided ...

. This was his second stint at the school after serving one year under

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. In

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, he was promoted to co-defensive coordinator. On December 2, 2019, Petersen announced he would step down as Washington's head coach at the end of the

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

season, and Lake would be his successor. Washington suspended Lake without pay on November 8, 2021, after he shoved one of his players the previous weekend. Washington fired Lake on November 14. Washington did not choose to fire him for cause, and will pay his $9.9 million buyout.

Defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

Bob Gregory replaced Lake as interim head coach. Lake's tenure as Washington's head coach was tumultuous and full of issues both on and off the field.

Los Angeles Rams

On February 16, 2023, Lake was hired as a defensive assistant by the

Head coaching record

References

External links

Washington profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lake, Jimmy 1976 births Living people American football defensive backs Boise State Broncos football coaches Detroit Lions coaches Eastern Washington Eagles football coaches Eastern Washington Eagles football players Los Angeles Rams coaches Montana State Bobcats football coaches Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches Washington Huskies football coaches Sportspeople from Walnut Creek, California Coaches of American football from Washington (state) Players of American football from Spokane, Washington African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople