In just over three months, Layton High School’s football team will kick off their 2023 season under new leadership. Fotu Katoa has resigned as the Lancers’ head coach after three seasons, according to sources close to the decision. Katoa was unavailable for immediate comment.
Katoa took over as head coach in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with ambitious plans to transform Layton, long regarded as a dormant force in Northern Utah high school football, into a powerhouse program.
Under Katoa’s guidance, the Lancers improved from a 2-7 record in 2020 to 6-5 with first-round playoff victories in each of the past two seasons, accumulating a 14-17 record during his tenure. This marked their best three-season stretch since 2008-10 when they went 20-15.
Layton High has already posted the head football coaching vacancy, alongside an unspecified teaching position, on the Davis School District’s careers website. LHS is expected to move swiftly to fill the role, considering the approaching summer workouts and practices for the football team.
As for Box Elder High School, the 2023 football season will be Robbie Gunter’s last as head coach. Gunter has been named the new assistant principal at Box Elder High for the 2023-24 school year, a transition confirmed by him and the school’s athletic director, Jesse Roberts.
School administrators typically relinquish coaching duties when entering administration, but Gunter has been granted permission to coach for one more season before a new head coach is hired after the 2023 season.