DAPHNE — Bayside Academy has a new head football coach. Former UMS-Wright assistant coach and Bessemer native Phil Lazenby was named to replace D.D. Thompson as the Admirals’ football head last month and began official duties May 2.

“I’m happy to be here of course,” he said two days before the Admirals began their 2007 spring training program.

“And I’m looking forward to getting things going. There’s not any magic to this. It is strictly hard work. It’s still football. It’s a tough sport. It’s blocking and tackling and having sound fundamentals.”

Lazenby said his offense will work out of the basic I-formation and the defense will use a lot of formations but will be a basic slant-type.

“That’s basically because of numbers,” he added. “We want to get as many kids out to play as possible but we have to look at having some people play both sides of the ball. Size will also be a factor as will speed. We are not going to have a lot of extremely big kids and not going to have a lot of extremely fast kids. But we will work to get the best effort we can out of each player we can. We have a great group of seniors and we will be looking to them a lot for their leadership.”

As an assistant at UMS the last six years, Lazenby helped guide the Bulldogs to three state championships. His head coaching experience includes leading Benjamin Russell High to the state championship game twice and stints at Gunterville and Southside-Gadsden. He brings an 86-36 overall record to Bayside.

Bayside athletic director Doug Leffard said Lazenby will be a good fit for their program.

“We’re excited about the experience he brings. He’s a great coach with a proven winning record and we feel very fortunate to have him here at Bayside.”

Leffard, who is also the Admirals’ head baseball coach will also work with the football team this fall.

Lazenby also said he was happy to have the Admirals head basketball coach Ralph Watson join assistants Scott Johnston and James Twilley.

Thompson leaves after six seasons and after leading the restarting of the football program at Bayside Academy