Lakeland's new football coach Ryan O'Shea, right, with Lakers athletic director Roman Smith
Lakeland High School has found its new head football coach.
Ryan O'Shea has been hired to take over the Lakers' program, the school announced March 16.
O'Shea comes to Lakeland after serveral high school coaching stops throughout Northern Indiana. Most recently, he spent the last two years at Jimtown as passing coordinator, quarterbacks coach and junior varsity head coach. The Jimmies won two sectional championships during that time.
Before that, he was defensive coordinator at South Bend. St. Joseph, an assistant at Lafayette Central Catholic, quarterbacks coach at Yorktown, and position coach at Monroe Central. He was on the staff of Lafayette Central Catholic's 15-0 state championship in 2015.
“Anytime you can bring someone in that has state championship experience, you’re adding to your department’s overall culture and standards," Lakeland athletic director Roman Smith said in a statement. "He aligns with everything we are trying to build here at Lakeland, and that’s very evident! We’re thankful for him and his family, as they chose to anchor down with us!”
O'Shea comes from a football family. His father, Kevin O'Shea, is the head coach of Indianapolis North Central and spent 9 seasons at Lafayette Central Catholic before that. Ryan was Kevin's defensive coordinator at LCC for a time. Ryan's grandfather, Frank, was an Indiana Football Hall of Fame Coach at Merrillville.
Lakeland is one of 26 high schools that parnters with Parkview Sports Medicine for athletic training, nutrition, sports performance, athletic rehab and other sports medicine services for Laker student-athletes. Learn more at www.parkviewsportsmedicine.com.