Madison Coach Reflects On 30-year FCPS Career, Hands Program To Alumnus

Lenny Schultz never got the call he’d been waiting for. 

Schultz, a former All-State running back from Madison High School’s class of ’83, had paid his dues over the last seven years at his alma-mater, serving as coach of the freshman and JV football teams, and, more recently, as an assistant coach to Gordon Leib, who tendered his resignation in February. Schultz was ready to assume his first head coaching position, but on the day the decision was to be made, he didn’t get the call he’d hoped for.

“I never heard from them, so I didn’t really know what was going on,” Schultz recalled. “Then I finally checked my email and saw that there was a message asking me to go down to the principal’s office.”

Normally, a trip to the principal’s office isn’t a good thing, and in this case, Schultz was also late, to boot. But thankfully, Madison’s Athletic Director, John Lingenfelter, and Principal, Mark Merrell, weren’t looking for a guy who checks his email a lot. They were looking for a football guy who could revitalize Madison’s program after a down season, and Schultz was the man they wanted.

“They only thing that worried me was, what’ll happen if we don’t offer it to him,” Lingenfelter said, only half-joking.  “This was the job he wanted more than anything in the world- he came after it hard, and he’s going to bring some youth and enthusiasm to our program.”

Schultz replaces Gordon Leib, who will become the head football coach at Paul VI High School in Fairfax.  He coached at South Lakes, Centreville and Herndon before becoming head coach at Madison in 1998. Over the last decade, he’s led his teams to a .616 winning percentage and two district titles, but the team suffered through a 1-9 season last year, in which they lost seven games they led at the start of the fourth quarter.

“It was an opportunity that came along and all these factors fell into place for me,” Leib said of his decision to leave Madison for Paul VI. “After 30 years of service with the Fairfax County School system I was eligible for retirement, and my daughter will be a freshman at Paul VI, so we’ll be commuting together.”

Leib’s excited about spending more time with his daughter, and the fact that her wardrobe will be limited by Paul VI’s dress code is a plus as well.

 "Uniforms are great,” he joked. “Awesome.”

Leib said despite the trying season last year, it was one of the most gratifying coaching experiences he’s had in his 30 year career.

“I’ve never had kids who stuck together like those kids did, I couldn’t ask them to do any more than they did,” he said.

What he’ll remember most from his 30 years of coaching in Fairfax County are the players who come back after they graduate to tell him how much the program meant to their professional and personal development.

“Hearing from the kids who have graduated and then come back and tell us how successful they’ve been, that tells me that I made the right choice in life- that my reward as a football coach has been making a difference in kid’s lives," he said.

He still runs into former players who recall the time he dumped a half-full trash can over his own head at halftime during a South Lakes* game in 1988, in an ultimately successful effort to convince his team to stop playing “like garbage.” (His team came back to win.) Others recall the time, in 1996, when he dressed up like a general and gave his players a “George Patton” speech about how they’d “know what to do when the right time comes.” (They did.)

Leib’s 84 year-old assistant, Art Kojoyian, who has been coaching for 60 years, will follow him to Paul VI, but they’ll be handing over the reins to a man steeped in Madison’s football tradition.

“Lenny played at Madison when I was a coach there,” Lingenfelter said.  “He was one of the best athletes we’ve had, and he went on to start all four years at N.C. State, and he had a business in North Carolina before moving back here in 2004, so we’re getting someone who is fully prepared to do the job.” 

After college, Schultz stayed in North Carolina and worked in the manufacturing industry before realizing in 2004 that he wanted to teach and coach. He’s enjoyed every moment of his seven year apprenticeship, but now he’s eager to mold the team in his own image.

“I plan to do some big things,” he said.  “My advantage is that the other coaches know nothing about me, so we’ll be able to surprise some people. I’m excited and I’m a little nervous, but that is what drives me. I can feel the adrenaline already.”

Correction: The spot of Leib's trash can tactic has been upated to reflect it's correct location at South Lakes High School.