MERRY HILL – He has led Lawrence Academy to never before seen heights.

Robert Kravitz has three state championships in six years coaching. He has led his team to six straight championship series and has posted a 144-26 career record.

But, all of that was on the baseball diamond.

Thursday morning, Kravitz officially took over the reins of another Lawrence Academy team – the Warriors’ football program. He replaces Mike Dail who left to become the Defensive Coordinator at Bertie High School.

“I’m looking forward to coaching football again,” Kravitz said. “I’m excited about the challenge we have in front of us.”

Kravitz has been coaching baseball for seven years, but also spent three seasons guiding the fortunes of the Lawrence Junior Varsity football team where his team steadily improved from a winless campaign to a winning season.

“Everyone looks at me as the baseball coach, but the truth is football is my passion,” he said. “I love football.”

Kravitz played football for three years during his high school years. He was a two-year starting quarterback under legendary Bertie High School Head Football Coach Roy Bond.

He was twice named All-Conference in football during his high school years.

“I loved playing for Coach Bond and all the people who coached me at Bertie,” Kravitz said. “I learned a lot about the game from them and I think you’ll see the influence in how we line up offensively.”

Kravitz is an I-formation coach who believes in being able to give multiple looks on the offensive side of the football. He said the team will move quickly from the I-formation to spread set.

“We are going to be pretty diverse on the offensive side,” he said. “Defensively, I think we’ll be pretty basic in what we do.”

Kravitz said he wasn’t inheriting a bad program, despite Lawrence finishing with only one win last season.

“People can look at wins and think we didn’t have anything going, but they would be wrong if they assumed that,” Kravitz said. “Coach Dail did a good job of instilling a winning attitude and that’s something that I’m going to try to continue.

“I learned a lot from having Coach Dail on the staff here and I think that will be beneficial,” Kravitz said. “I hated to see him go, but I wish him all the best at Bertie.”

Kravitz is entering his seventh year at Lawrence where he teaches middle school science. He is a 2004 graduate of Elizabeth City State University and is currently working towards a master’s degree in athletic administration at Western Kentucky University.

He has coached football, basketball and baseball during his time at Lawrence.

Kravitz is married to the former Jenny Coburn and the couple resides in Greenville.