Lafayette head coach remembers Nacoma James

Sudden death of assistant football coach nacoma james.

Wtva's matt st.

Jean spoke with lafayette's head football coach michael fair earlier today and joins us from the sports set.

Nacoma james called lafayette county high school his home for over 16 years.

Coach fair said there wasn't a more dedicated coach or person in the commodore community.

The loss is devastating for him and the school.

(fair) he was a great mentor for these young men around here and always had a smile on his face.

(track) coach michael fair worked with nacoma james since 2014.

James also taught the middle school.

He died last thursday while in self-quarantine with coronavirus-like symptoms. he was 42.

No one knows the official cause of death.

Coach fair spent some time at his dad's farm in greenville to collect his thoughts and reflect on his time with coach james.

(fair) we won a state championship together in 2016 and he had so much pride for lafayette and loves this place so much, just to see that look on his face of accomplishment, i probably won't forget that.

(track) after the news broke, coach fair had to talk with his team over a zoom call because of coronavirus restrictions.

Coach fair said that they will have something in place to honor the memory of james during the 2020 football season.

(fair) i don't have specifics yet it's still just way too soon, but his legacy will live on through this football program for a long time.

The lafayette county school system started school today the lafayette county school system started school today with a hybrid approach.

Some students will go into school while others will stay home.

This will last the first two and half weeks of school.

The commodores start official practice start on monday.

The team's opening game is at horn lake on september 4th.

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