Familiar face to take over football coaching position at St. James

Larry Ware will serve as the interim coach at St. James for the 2025 football season. (File Photo)

By TIM GAYLE

St. James will turn to its athletic director, Larry Ware, to serve as the Trojans’ interim head football coach in 2025.

Former head coach Aubrey Blackwell stepped down from the position in late  May, leaving the school little time to find a replacement with summer workouts on the horizon. At the time, Ware said the school may place someone in the position on an interim basis, an indication that someone might be promoted from the staff to coach the team in 2025.

Ware has served as an assistant coach under Jimmy Perry in 2012-21, under Neal Posey in 2023 and under Blackwell in 2024, adding the duties of athletic director in June, 2024.

“Coach Ware puts students first,” head of school Larry McLemore said. “He brings stability,

integrity and a deep understanding of our school community and core values. We are grateful

for his leadership and look forward to the positive impact he will continue to have on our football

program.”

While the Trojans are expected to face rebuilding challenges in 2025, promoting Ware from his role as an assistant coach to head coach retains some familiarity among the staff and players. And Ware is the most experienced head coach on the staff, having led three different teams over a period of 11 years.

A former “Mr. Football” as a running back at Robert E. Lee, Ware played football at Georgia, then got into coaching, first as an assistant coach at Cottonwood in 1994 and 1995, then as an assistant coach at Jeff Davis.

He earned his first job as a head coach in 2002 at George W. Carver, taking over a program that had failed to win a game in three previous years under McDonald Arrington. Ware promptly switched the Wolverines from a spread attack to a power-I formation and went 3-7 his first year, then 8-4 in 2003, 9-5 in 2004 and 9-3 in 2005.

He left after the 2007 season to take a job as the head coach of his alma mater, leading the Generals to a 13-28 record in four seasons before the staff was fired in a MPS shakeup that brought in Tyrone Rogers.

Ware, who kept his job as a teacher, was promptly hired as an assistant football coach at St. James by Perry, the offensive coordinator at Lee when Ware was a player. Together, the pair won 79 games and four region championships in 10 years with the Trojans.

Ware’s next challenge came the following year when he accepted a job as the head coach at Valiant Cross Academy. Ware became the fourth head coach in three years at the new private school and led the Warriors to a 4-7 record and the semifinals of the Class AAA state playoffs.

The team’s four wins set a school record and the first-round win over Monroe Academy was the first postseason win in the history of the school.

Ware elected to return to his role as an assistant coach at St. James after the 2022 season and rejoined the Trojans for new head coach Neal Posey.