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Ex-Bengal Kitna to Lead Lakota East

Former NFL quarterback Jon Kitna finds himself back in familiar stomping grounds. On Wednesday afternoon Lakota East introduced Kitna as its third head football coach in program history. It was a somewhat surprising move but one in which the school made a statement about how serious it was in taking football to the next level in the Greater Miami Conference play (GMC) and beyond.

Kitna played 14-years in the NFL with four teams – Seattle, Cincinnati, Detroit and Dallas. He threw for 29,745 yards and 169 touchdowns in 141 career games. He spent five of those years with the Bengals, as a starter from 2001-2003 and as the backup to Carson Palmer in ’04-’05.

The move to the Cincinnati-area was almost a no-brainer for Kitna and his family being that they have adopted sons and their spouses that graduated from Lakota East, seven grandchildren that live in Ohio and their best friends are still in the Liberty Center area.

Kitna has been a high school head coach for 10 years at four different stops – his alma mater Lincoln (WA), Waxahachie (TX), Brophy College Prep (AZ) and most recently at Burleson (TX) where his son Jamison “JT” just completed his sophomore year as the Elks starting quarterback. Kitna has compiled a 69-40 overall record with winning record in nine of those campaigns including a career best 11 victories at Lincoln in 2013. Last fall was the first losing one of his career.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: JT KITNA, Lakota East

Before introducing Kitna, Lakota East Principal Robert Burnside gave warm, very sincere and heartfelt appreciative praises to former head coach Rick Haynes whom Kitna replaces as well as the school’s first head coach, Greg Bailey. Burnside thanked the duo for helping the program get to this momentous point. Haynes went 70-65 in 13 years as the Thunderhawks front man. He led the school to its first five playoffs appearances and only four post season wins.

During his introduction speech, Kitna let’s it be known to his future players, their parents and the media that the Thunderhawks will thrive under the guise of being “tenacious, coachable and resilient.”

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