Albert Poree named head football coach at John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy has its new head football coach.

Former St. Augustine star Albert Poree has been tabbed to take over the Cougars as part of the KIPP New Orleans network under which the school now falls.

Poree most recently coached at Booker T. Washington under Wayne Reese Jr. in 2019.

“I’m honored to become the next head football coach at John F. Kennedy,” Poree said. “I look forward to building a successful football program that will develop young men on and off the field. I know that our alumni and the community will be proud of the work that we do. I am excited to be part of the Cougar family!”

Poree has extensive experience working with excellent coaches, having also worked at De La Salle under Ryan Manale, at Karr under Jabbar Juluke, at McDonogh 35 under the late Wayne Reese Sr. and Sarah Reed. He also worked at Dartmouth under Buddy Teevens in 2013 and served as an assistant under Dan Mullen in 2014-15.

After the 2015 season, Poree decided it was time to come home.

“I realized I needed to start having a family,” Poree said. “My wife got pregnant, we moved back home and took the job at De La Salle. It is great to be home.”

In a release issued by the school, incoming Principal Joseph Jones Jr. praised Poree.

“We are extremely excited to have Mr. Poree join the JFK family,” Jones said. “With his leadership and experience, we’ll be able to capitalize on the upward trajectory of the program. The possibilities are endless on where he’ll be able to lead our team.”

Poree earned his Bachelors of Science in Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Masters of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. Poree is currently a Teacher Certification Program Candidate at Southern University in New Orleans.

“Having gone to St. Aug and played against JFK in high school, I was always enamored at the pride and support of their alumni,” Poree said. “For me, it is a sleeping giant. I truly believe this can be a great program. We played them last year at Booker T. Washington and we were in the same district with them at McDonogh 35. Once KIPP took it over, it was a perfect fit.”

With the Cougars, Poree inherits a team that went 4-6 and was competitive a year ago.

“The cupboard is not bare by any stretch of the imagination,” Poree said. “They were in some games that they could have won last year.”

What Poree really likes is the youth of the team.

“A lot of the talent in the program is young, in the freshman and sophomore classes,” Poree said. “The future is bright. We are working to organize everything in the middle of this pandemic and we want to get the word out that JFK is a wonderful school to attend now to young people with our KIPP education brand, new facilities and a new start in football.”

Poree graduated from St. Aug in 1999, playing under Tony Biagas as a standout cornerback. Poree originally signed with Notre Dame.

Poree replaces Earl Cager, who served two seasons as head coach at Kennedy after replacing Derek Lewis, who was the original coach of the program formerly known as Lake Area New Tech. Lewis played for the New Orleans Saints and attended Clark High School.

Cager also played at St. Augustine and Southeastern Louisiana before spending time with the New York Giants from 2006-08. Cager arrived at John F. Kennedy after serving as an assistant coach at Landry-Walker.