SPOKANE, Wash. — North Central High school and Eastern Washington University alum Jimmy Lake has been named the new defensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons.
Lake began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at EWU in 1999 before joining the Eagle coaching staff from 2000-2003 as the defensive backs coach.
Lake bounced between college and the NFL before joining Chris Petersen's staff as a defensive backs coach at Boise State in 2012.
Once Petersen took the UW head coaching job, Lake followed him to Montlake and worked his way up to defensive coordinator before being named head coach when Petersen resigned.
Lake was the UW head coach for 2020 and the beginning of 2021 before he was fired after a 4-5 start to the 2021 season.
Lake returned to the NFL as an assistant head coach for the Los Angeles Rams in 2023.
Once Lake's former colleague Raheem Morris was named head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, he brought Lake with him from Los Angeles to be his new defensive coordinator.
This marks the first time Lake will have a coordinator job in the NFL.
