Coach Kelly is the head boys cross country and track coach and has been in Lovejoy for ten years. Coach Kelly received the THSCA Boy’s Coach of the Year award in 2023.
At A Glance:
Favorite pre-meet snack: Coffee
Favorite sports drink: Blue gatorade
Favorite movie: Forrest Gump
Hobbies: Collecting sports cards
Looking Deeper:
The Red Ledger: How long have you been working at Lovejoy?
Logan Kelly: I’ve been working at Lovejoy for ten years now.
TRL: What does your job include?
LK: I am the head boys cross country coach, the head boys track coach, I work in the special education department, with mainly math, but I also work with an english class.
TRL: Do you have any previous experience in your position?
LK: Before I was at Lovejoy, I was at Irving Nimitz for three years and was the head cross country coach for two years. In college, I was a graduate assistant for cross country and track.
TRL: What are the requirements you have to meet as a coach?
LK: There’s a lot of standards we have to meet, but I have really high standards for myself, and if I’m going to do this, I want to be the best. I’m not looking to be just average. I want my programs to be the best of the best in the state, and so, you know, there’s a lot of expectations that come with the standards.
TRL: How do you feel you did last season?
LK: For cross country, I felt like we did pretty well. Our goal was to get to state and we got second, which was great. They were in a really great race at the state meet so we were disappointed not to do as well as we thought.
TRL: Do you have any goals for this season?
LK: This year, we’re really motivated to win state in cross country and in track.
TRL: What’s your favorite part of the job?
LK: My favorite part of the job as a coach is working with the kids. I enjoy working with them and seeing them get better each day and each year and winning.
TRL: What does a typical week in season look like?
LK: Typically we would do all of the workouts in the evening, but it’s so hot. A lot of our really hard workouts are in the mornings, and then our easier days are done in the evening time. On Mondays, we’ll have a hard workout, Tuesdays include some core and strength work during the school day, and then miles in the evening. On Wednesdays we do a harder workout, Thursdays are easier and Friday’s include another hard workout.
TRL: Have you made any changes to the program while you’ve worked here?
LK: When I first started here, we did all of our workouts either in the afternoon or the evening, which we changed. We’ve really enhanced our equipment, including our timing system, which we use when we host the better and bigger meets.
TRL: What motivated you to start working as a track coach, and why did you choose Lovejoy?
LK: To be honest, a lot of people say they had a great coach, and I had some good coaches, but I had a lot of different coaches in my career. I know that with distance running and track, it’s not the most glamorous sport, like football, basketball and baseball. It’s not something that every kid grows up wanting to do. I found a passion for running in high school and college and I just want to make it a really good experience for those kids.
