March 16, 2024
By Fred Liggett
sports.lstribune08@gmail.com
On Thursday, Feb. 29 the announcement was made of Lee’s Summit North head football coach Jamar Mozee leaving the position after serving in the role for the past nine years. In those nine seasons a lot of success was enjoyed within the Broncos football program and many fans wanted to show their appreciation to Coach Mozee before he left.
On Tuesday, Mar. 12 the LS North football parents hosted a farewell ceremony for Coach Mozee in the LSN commons area. Attendees enjoyed cake, cookies, a choice of beverages all while talking about Broncos football. The area was filled with current and past Broncos players, many parents, alumni, fellow faculty members and fans.
Coach Mozee spent a total of 10 years as a part of the Broncos program and spoke to those in attendance of how many calls he took over the past three years about other jobs. Mozee took a call this year from the University of Central Florida and said yes. For Mozee he “felt like where my kids are older, main thing my kids can function without me here.” Mozee adds, “My son Isiah is going to be staying here and will be graduating at semester in December. My daughter will be a sophomore here and at the ideal time we will relocate. This was a main deciding factor for me.”
In looking to what’s next Mozee says of working with UCF head coach Gus Malzahn “a mentor type guy.” “He was a high school coach in Arkansas so our experiences are similar.” Mozee feels he is “someone I want to be around.”
A number of big wins was enjoyed at LS North over the past decade that included conference and district championships. For Mozee the biggest victory at LS North may have been a road game six years ago. Mozee says, “A huge momentum shift was the Blue Springs game, when we first beat them over there. We beat them in OT.” Mozee admits, “I told the team we would win and I knew I was in deep trouble if we didn’t win. We won the game in dramatic fashion and that really catapulted the program.”
Regarding his new role as an assistant on the college level Mozee feels, “All the experiences aid and assist, like how you work, time spent, organization of it all.” Mozee adds, “Everything I’ve been through will help with that. Recruiting kids all over the country. Developing relationships and how you communicate with kids. Hopefully that will help me out down the road.”
One relationship Coach Mozee had with a player was a close one with senior to be Garrett Studer. Studer, a tight end, said of Mozee “helped me more off the field than with football.” Studer adds he liked how Mozee would “push you.” Coach Mozee addressed the current Broncos football team before the reception at the LSN Fieldhouse. Studer says, “Mozee told the seniors to carry on” as they now “will be the most experienced players in the program.”
A lot of changes at LS North with a new head football coach being hired and unknown number of changes on the coaching staff. Whatever the future holds for both the Broncos football program and for Coach Mozee the sense of satisfaction on a job well done was quite evident at this appreciation event.
