After serving as the head football coach for the Pace High School Varsity Football team for 25 years, Mickey Lindsey’s coaching legacy ended with a 35-13 win at Pensacola Catholic High School on Friday. Lindsey, who has coached football for a total of 39 years, retired following a lengthy coaching tenure at PHS.
“God has blessed me with the same coaching job for the past 25 years, which is just about unheard of,” Lindsey said. “I would not change it for nothing.”
Lindsey said he and his wife will always consider Pace their home since moving to the area in 1985. He praised the community for providing a family atmosphere, not just in the community, but in the school as well.
“I have nothing negative to say,” he said. “This community has been good to me, the parents have been good to me.”
One of the many things Lindsey will miss about coaching is the relationships he has built and maintained with the players over the years.
“(I’m going to miss) watching them come in here as ninth graders scared to death and watch them leave as young men,” he said.
Pace High School Principal Stephen Shell said the players have consistently shown their appreciation and love for Lindsey by playing “extremely hard for him 25 years ago” and until this day. Shell added Lindsey’s “consistent excellence” placed the school’s football program in first and second places for categories including the total number of wins and playoff appearances in the Santa Rosa, Escambia and OkaloosaCounties.
“Coach Lindsey is Pace High Football,” Shell said. “His impact is felt throughout the entire community. Specifically at Pace High School, his day-in and day-out commitment to doing the right thing the right way with never-ending hard work will be felt long after he is gone.”
Many young men have been impacted by Lindsey, including NFL Hall of Fame Running Back Emmitt Smith, who played for Lindsey at EscambiaHigh School. In an email, Smith recalled fond memories of Lindsey, while wishing his former coach the best for the future.
“Coach Lindsey had a tremendous impact on me as a young player. When he became the offensive coach at Escambia, he introduced me to the (Fellowship of Christian Athletes), had me join the weightlifting team, and taught me some of life’s early lessons… how to be not only physically strong but mentally resilient too. A superb coach and a great man. My best wishes are with him as he enters a much-earned retirement. Thanks Coach.”
Lindsey’s own son, Jay, was also one of those players and is currently serving as the head football coach at TateHigh School.
Jay, a 2004 PaceHigh School graduate, shared insight on his father’s coaching mentality.
“As a player, you always knew what to expect; he was very consistent in day to day routine,” Jay said. “He is a great motivator who holds high expectations and knows how to get the absolute best out of each and every player in the program.”
While following in his father’s footsteps, Jay learned to keep priorities in check both inside and outside of football.
“Football was very important in our household growing up, but faith, family (and) football were always his priorities in that order,” Jay said. “I also learned that there is more to coaching than X’s and O’s. It is about getting kids to buy into the program and work to be better than they ever thought possible.”
While his coaching era may be complete in Pace, Lindsey said he’s not walking away from coaching.
“I’m not saying that I will never coach again,” he said. “I don’t know what is in store. I am putting it in God’s hands and whatever He has planned for me it’s what I am going to do.”
Jay believes his father has earned some time away from the field.
“He deserves to relax for a little while and do things he has never had the opportunity to do,” Jay said. “Being a football coach, you rarely have a day off.”
While a successor has not been named at this time, Lindsey has advice for the next head football coach at Pace High School.
“Make the kids number one,” he said. “With every decision you make, base it on their welfare.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Pace High's Lindsey shares about 39 years on the field