Jimmy Lake has proven his mettle as a collegiate defensive coordinator.
Now he’s set for a chance at the highest level.
Lake, a North Central High and Eastern Washington University graduate, who got his coaching start as an assistant with the Eagles, was hired as the Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator on Monday.
Lake spent the last year as assistant head coach with the Los Angeles Rams.
Previously, Lake served as defensive backs coach with EWU (200-03), the University of Washington (2004) and Montana State (2005), before making the jump to the pros, where he served a similar role with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2006-07, 2010-11) and Detroit Lions (2008).
Lake eventually returned to Washington in 2014 and rose to defensive coordinator in 2018. He took over as Huskies’ head coach after Chris Peterson left and oversaw a tumultuous two years, including the shortened Covid season, where UW went 7-6 overall and he was dismissed after shoving a player.
Lake follows newly-hired Falcons head coach Raheem Morris, who was the Rams defensive coordinator last season.
