John Lewis aims to revive ‘spirit of South’ in his return as football coach

John Lewis was the first head football coach in program history at Anchorage’s South High when it was established in 2004. He built it from the ground up and quickly established a winning culture by claiming a state title in the third year of the program’s existence. Then after 14 years at the helm, Lewis stepped down at the end of the 2017 season.

His successor, Walter Harmon, took over from 2018 to 2021, winning a state title in 2019. Harmon resigned this offseason, citing a desire to move closer to family in Arizona and watch his son Jackson play college football at Montana State University.

Now Lewis is back at the helm at South, bringing with him nearly two decades of experience and a desire to revitalize the program.

“It was time to bring back some of the old traditions and get South riding high again,” Lewis said.

In total, Lewis went 81-51 and won three championships during his first stint as the head coach of the Wolverines, including the last undefeated season at the Division I level in 2006.

“It’s almost like the (undefeated) 1972 Miami Dolphins,” Lewis said. “We had the 10-year reunion here in 2016, and that was really fun to get all the guys back and some of the coaches back.”

During his four years away from the team, he helped build up another program in the Cook Inlet Conference as an assistant coach with Bartlett High, which is where he coached prior to initially joining South.

“He’s back at his home school,” Bartlett coach Chance Matsuoka said. “We keep in touch and I’m excited to play him later on in the season.”

Lewis was an assistant on the Golden Bears staff for two different regimes and was an important part of the program’s success and development during that time.

“He was a great mentor from a head coach standpoint, and he was also a great offensive line assistant coach,” Matsuoka said. “He’ll definitely be missed, but I still have a great relationship with him.”

Even though he wasn’t the head coach of South High’s football team any longer, Lewis was still around South as the track and field coach.

“All the programs here have top-notch coaches and top-notch athletes, but the spirit of South just isn’t clicking,” Lewis said.

He believes that it isn’t up to the student body to embrace and take pride in the football program, it’s up to his coaching staff and the players themselves to inspire that confidence.

“That’s one of our missions that we’re going to do this year,” Lewis said.

The 2021-22 school year was a phenomenal year for South athletic programs with the volleyball, softball, baseball, boys basketball, and boys soccer winning state titles.

However, it’s been a few years since their football program won a championship, with their last victory in the state title game coming over their Hillside rival Service.

This year’s squad is mainly composed of a small senior class with a large group of juniors that includes starting quarterback Fafo Lefano.

He stood out as a freshman on junior varsity in 2020 and served as the backup to Slade Schuster on varsity as a sophomore in 2021.

“Being up at the varsity level was kind of too big,” Lewis said. “Now he is taking on not just being a quarterback, but being a leader. In this offense, our quarterback is a piece of the puzzle, not the key piece.”

Lefano was also a member of the boys basketball team that won a state title in the spring, and he wants to apply the same underdog mentality that team used in that run to win a state championship in football this fall.

“Trust the process, put in the work, and hard work pays off,” Lefano said. “No one thought we’d come up from the sixth seed and be first, so that’s what we’ve got to do in football.”

He doesn’t see much of a difference between the coaching styles of Lewis and Harmon and says that their core values are the same.

“They both have their own ways of coaching as (with) every other coach, but they both stand by their word and give us what we can do and help us be great,” Lefano said.

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Nothing on this year’s team is guaranteed for returners or newcomers to the varsity level, according to Lewis. No particular jersey number or spot on the depth chart is solidified.

“We tell the kids that the past is the past, this is the time to build your own destiny now,” Lewis said. “They’ve got to come out, be hungry, and try out and be coachable.”

As far as their philosophy and identity on the offensive side of the ball, Lewis says the Wolverines will be “run first” but still incorporate some modern passing concepts.

“I’m not an air-raid guy,” Lewis said. “I’m a fly-sweep guy, but I like to marry it with things, so I’m able to attack on the run as well as the pass.”

He says the Wolverines have a stable of talented running backs that will be toting the pigskin for them this season, but also some gifted receivers as well.

“People just think we’re going to run the ball here, so let them think (that),” Lewis said.

Overall, he envisions this year’s team as one that will be led by a strong defense.

“We’re a defensive-minded team,” Lewis said. “Special teams will be key because that keeps our defense out of trouble and it gives our offense opportunity.”