James Paul Lake (born December 17, 1976) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach who is a senior defensive assistant for the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Previously, he was the head coach for the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) N ...

from 2020 to 2021. Lake has coached at both the

(NFL) and

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

levels, primarily overseeing defensive backs. He played college football as a

strong safety Safety (S), historically known as a safetyman, is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free sa ...

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the H ...

from 1995–1998.

Early years

military brat A military brat (colloquial or military slang) is a child of serving or retired military personnel. Military brats are associated with a unique subcultureDavid C. Pollock, Ruth E. van Reken. ''Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds'', Revise ...

, Lake was born in

Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland, California, Oakland. Walnut Creek has a total population of 70,127 per t ...

; his father served in the U.S. Air Force and the family lived in various locations, including overseas tours in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. He attended North Central High School in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

, was a three-sport letterman for the Indians (

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

), and was recognized as a scholar-athlete. Lake played

for Eastern Washington University in nearby Cheney as a

from 1995 to 1998, where he was an honorable-mention All- Big Sky recipient, team captain, and named to the All-Big Sky Conference Academic Team. After graduating from Eastern Washington in 1999, Lake worked as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

there during the spring before taking a full-time job with the Spokane Indians, a minor league baseball team, where he worked in ticket sales.

Coaching career

Lake returned to coaching for the 2000 season when Eastern Washington hired him as their defensive backs coach, replacing Randy Hanson. Lake stayed at Eastern Washington until 2004 when the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, located in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, hired him as defensive backs coach. The job change moved him to the western side of the state for the first time and up to the

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

(then called Division I-A). At Washington, he coached under defensive coordinator

Phil Snow Phillip Snow (born December 22, 1955) is an American football coach who currently serves as the associate head coach at the Nebraska Cornhuskers football, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He previously served as the defensive coordinator for th ...

, who Lake called a "defensive back guru." The Huskies won a single game in 2004, leading to the dismissal of head coach Keith Gilbertson and his staff. Lake landed at

Montana State University Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana, United States. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's d ...

Bozeman, Montana Bozeman ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. The 2020 United States census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it Montana's fourth-largest city. It is the principal city of the Bozeman, Montan ...

, under defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and head coach

Mike Kramer Michael David Kramer (born July 25, 1954) is a former American football coach and former player, most recently the head football coach at Idaho State Bengals football, Idaho State University of the Big Sky Conference. Kramer was previously the h ...

, both of whom had been at Eastern Washington during Lake's playing days. Following the 2005 season, Lake interviewed with Washington before accepting a job with the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

in the

as assistant defensive backs coach, working with defensive coordinator

Monte Kiffin Monte George Kiffin (February 29, 1940 – July 11, 2024) was an American football coach. He is widely considered to have been one of the preeminent defensive coordinators in modern football, as well as one of the greatest defensive coordinators ...

under head coach

Jon Gruden Jon David Gruden (born August 17, 1963) is an American football coach and media personality currently employed by Barstool Sports. After beginning his coaching career in the college ranks and working as a position coach and as an offensive co ...

. Lake left after two years to coach defensive backs with the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

, one of several Bucs assistants hired away by head coach Rod Marinelli, a long-time defensive line coach at Tampa Bay. The move reunited him with Snow, who had been in Detroit for several years coaching the linebackers. The 2008 Detroit Lions infamously went winless, the first NFL team to do so since the season expanded to 16 games, leading to the dismissal of Marinelli and his staff. Lake returned to Tampa Bay for the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

seasons as defensive backs coach under

Raheem Morris Dejohnold Raheem Morris (born September 3, 1976) is an American professional American football, football coach who is the head coach for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as head coach of the Tampa B ...

, who had replaced Gruden as head coach in 2009.

Boise State

In 2012 and 2013 Lake worked as the defensive backs coach for Boise State.

Washington

Lake joined the

staff in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

as a defensive backs coach under head coach Chris Petersen. This was his second stint at the school after serving one year under Keith Gilbertson in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. In

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, he was promoted to co-defensive coordinator. On December 2, 2019, Petersen announced he would step down as Washington's head coach at the end of the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

season, and Lake would be his successor. Washington suspended Lake without pay on November 8, 2021, after he tried to separate a player from a sideline scrum by hitting him in the facemask, then shoving him in the back as he tried to walk away, the previous weekend. Washington fired Lake on November 14. Washington did not choose to fire him for cause, and will pay his $9.9 million buyout.

Defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

Bob Gregory replaced Lake as interim head coach. Lake's tenure as Washington's head coach was tumultuous and full of issues both on and off the field.

Los Angeles Rams (first stint)

On February 16, 2023, Lake was hired as assistant head coach by the

Atlanta Falcons

On January 29, 2024, Lake was hired to be the defensive coordinator for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

. Lake followed head coach

to Atlanta having served on staff with him both with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Rams. On January 11, 2025, the Falcons announced that they had fired Lake after one season.

Los Angeles Rams (second stint)

On February 25, 2025, Lake's return to the Rams was announced with the job title of senior defensive assistant.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Washington profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lake, Jimmy 1976 births Living people American football defensive backs Boise State Broncos football coaches Detroit Lions coaches Eastern Washington Eagles football coaches Eastern Washington Eagles football players Los Angeles Rams coaches Montana State Bobcats football coaches Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches Washington Huskies football coaches Players of American football from Walnut Creek, California Coaches of American football from Washington (state) Players of American football from Spokane, Washington African-American coaches of American football 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen Coaches of American football from California