John Thompson is Kaplan High's new head football coach

John Thompson received an early 44th birthday gift on Friday when he was named the head football coach at Kaplan High School.
Thompson, 43 years old, will turn 44 on Aug. 20, and when that day rolls around, he will be in his second week of being the head football coach at Kaplan.
He will spend this week at Vermilion Catholic, a place where he was about to begin his eighth season as the strength and conditioning coach and the defensive line coach.
After school at VC, Thompson will head to Kaplan High to begin preparing for his first season as a head football coach. This past Sunday,  Thompson was in Kaplan, meeting the defensive coaches.
This is the first time he has ever applied to be a high school head football coach. 
“I have been preparing for this for the last 20 years,” said Thompson. “I have coached under some good high school and college coaches who have taught me a lot. I am not done growing.”
Thompson is about to take a crash course on how to be a high school head football coach. It is a crash course because of the timing of the hire - four weeks before the start of the 2025 season. 
He was hired one week after head coach Stephen “Tank” Lotief was relieved of his coaching duties on July 31, just 20 minutes after completing a morning practice. No official reason was provided for Lotief’s removal from his position.
The first football game is Sept. 5 when Kaplan opens against Ascension Episcopal High. The week before will be the jamboree.
Thompson met with his players and assistant coaches on Friday afternoon.
It looks like Cody Mire will be the defensive coordinator and Thompson will look to call the offense, with the help of other assistant coaches. The coaching assignments are all still in the air, Thompson said. 
With Thompson possibly running the offense, it looks like the Pirates will be installing a different offense, other than running the strict Wing-T offense.  Thompson’s plans to have the quarterback in the shotgun formation, with a wing-back and running back not far away. Look for the Pirates to “open up” the offense.
 Thompson said he is not scrapping the Wing-T 100 percent because it’s what the players know.
This past weekend, Thompson toured the Kaplan facilities, including the field house and football field, which is being converted into an artificial turf field.  He did say he saw where Kaplan could use upgraded weight-lifting equipment and possibly improve the locker room. 
Thompson’s vision for the school extends beyond the field. He expressed his desire for the players to take pride in their facilities, indicating his commitment to their overall experience at Kaplan High. 
After this season, Thompson will have to put a new football schedule together. There is already talk that  Vermilion Catholic could be added to the Kaplan football schedule in 2026 and 2027.
“If Broc wants. That would be a big parish football game,” Thompson said.