Lawler set to lift Dragons to new heights
JIM LAWLER
“I just moved here about a month ago from Denver, and I’m really super excited,” said Lawler, who was named strength and conditioning coach for the Dragons football team.
“How can you not be motivated when you’re around Coach (Jake) Dawson?”
Lawler plans to begin implementing his program when the team returns from the TSSAA-mandated dead period on Monday, July 7.
“I met with some of the guys, and we worked on some fundamentals,” he said. “I had to take a week off to move my daughter to the University of Mississippi, where she’ll intern as a strength and conditioning coach. I didn’t think it was fair to start my program before I did that.”
When the Dragons return, Lawler knows it will be time to prepare for the upcoming season, which kicks off Friday, Aug. 22, when Clinton hosts Heritage at Dragon Stadium.
“When we get back, it will be full-speed ahead,” he said.
Clinton and Heritage are now linked. The Mountaineers are coached by former University of Tennessee assistant Joe Osovet. Both Osovet and Dawson worked under former Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt.
After their time at UT, Dawson served as an assistant for Osovet in Maryville before working at Powell during its Class 5A state championship run in 2021.
During Dawson’s time at UT, Lawler’s son, Zak, was playing for the Vols.
“My son was at Miami, and they changed their offense, so he transferred to Tennessee under Coach Pruitt,” Lawler said. “He knew Coach Dawson, and they were talking about strength and conditioning, and that’s how I met Coach Dawson.”
Zak is now a strength coach at Florida A&M, which recently hired James Colzie III as its head football coach. Zak will also work for head basketball coach Charlie Ward, the 1993 Heisman Trophy winner who had a long NBA career with the New York Knicks.
“With Zak being a strength coach at Florida A&M, I’ll have resources most strength coaches don’t have access to,” Jim Lawler said. “We’ll be doing some things they do at Georgia Tech, and some things they’re doing up the road at Tennessee.
“We’re emphasizing sports performance,” he said. “Strength and conditioning [are] a part of that, but we’re also going to work on injury prevention.”
Lawler makes it clear that he wants to work with more than just the football players.
“I’m hoping to be a resource for all Clinton High School athletes, in both men’s and women’s sports,” he said. “Injury prevention is really important, especially for girls.
“I don’t train football players. I train athletes, and our motto at Clinton is, ‘There’s no substitute for strength, and there’s no reason not to have it.’”
A North Carolina native, Lawler served in the U.S. Marine Corps, worked in nuclear counterterrorism, and served as director of security for children’s hospitals in Colorado. He also managed a gym and worked in professional wrestling for Crockett Promotions.
In 2020, Jim and Zak founded Thors Strength Systems. Jim is certified by USA Weightlifting, the National Academy of Sports Medicine and Triphasic Coaching.
