Bio

When the 2023 season kicks off, it will mark the fifth season of the Lester Towns era at Valley College. Still on track to turn the Monarch football program into a force to be reckoned with in Southern California community college football, Towns is not interested in talking about where the team will go, but rather interested in doing the work required to make this program the potent powerhouse he knows it can be. And those duties include diligent recruiting, an assertive approach to making sure his players take care of business in the classroom, working tirelessly to get his players to four-year colleges, bringing quality coaches to the staff, and much, much more.

Towns can relate to every player who has worn or will wear the green and gold thanks to his own extensive background as an athlete and assistant coach. With 31 years of experience as a football player (high school, Division I, and the NFL) Towns knows exactly the road it takes to be a successful student-athlete.

After a standout career as a two-way player for the Pasadena High School Bulldogs, he took his talents to the University of Washington (UW). While at Washington (1996 to 1999), Towns played under head coaches Jim Lambright and Rick Neuheisel. There, his accolades included selection as a two-time team co-captain (1998 and 1999), while leading the Huskies with 91 tackles his junior year, and selection to the 2000 Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine All-Star games for his hard work during his senior year.

Following his senior season, Towns was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the seventh round of the 2000 NFL draft. Success was immediate as he became a two-year starting inside linebacker from 2000 to 2001, a role which saw him lead the entire 2001 Panther linebacker corps in tackles with 101. Towns played for the Panthers from 2000 to 2003 which included seeing significant time on the Panthers’ Super Bowl XXXVIII team in ’03. Towns finished out his NFL career in 2006 with the Miami Dolphins.

Two years after his NFL career concluded, Towns decided to go into coaching. His first stop was in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he worked as an intern for the team that had drafted him eight years earlier, the Carolina Panthers. From there he secured a serious coaching feather in his cap, serving as the Alabama Crimson Tide assistant strength coach and defensive assistant from 2008 to 2012. While at Alabama, Towns saw the Crimson Tide capture two national championships in 2009 and 2011. Additionally, Towns worked with 12 linebackers who played in the NFL, including Rolando McClain, Dont’a Hightower, and C.J. Mosley.

After a rewarding four years at Alabama, Towns took his coaching talents to Portland State University where he served as the Vikings’ recruiting coordinator and linebackers coach from 2012 to 2015. While coaching at PSU, Towns coached the likes of two-time All-Big Sky outside linebacker Ian Sluss (159 career tackles, 23.5 career tackles for loss, and 5.5 career sacks); 2012 Big Sky honorable mention pick Jaycob Shoemaker (204 career tackles, 23 career tackles for loss, and 2.5 career sacks); future Canadian Football League fixture Khalil Bass (122 career tackles at PSU); and two-time All-Big Sky Conference middle linebacker Jeremy Lutali (209 career tackles and 17 career tackles for loss).  

It was Towns’ recruiting from 2012 to 2015 that helped the Vikings go 9-3 in 2015, resulting in the school’s first nine-win season in more than two decades.  

The 2016 season saw Towns take on the assistant head coach/defensive coordinator positions at Glendale Community College. While at GCC, Towns coached four all-state defensive players – inside linebacker Cody Shoemaker (2016) who went to Boise State University after leaving Glendale; cornerback Keyon Hardin (2016); defensive end Payton Lory-Sanders (2016); and outside linebacker Teddy Gallagher (2017), a three-time All-Sun Belt Conference player at Division 1-A Coastal Carolina University. Gallagher was recently invited to the Carolina Panthers' 2022 mini-camp. In addition to those all-state players he coached at GCC, nine Glendale players made all-conference from 2016 to 2018.  

in his first year as head coach at LAVC (2019), Towns took on a 49-man Monarch roster with 30 of those of players being freshmen, coupled with the fact that before the 2019 season started, the Monarchs were projected to finish in last place in the six-team American Metro Conference. But instead, the team finished fourth with a 2-4 league mark to go along with their 3-6 overall record.

One of the highlights of the season was a 16-7 victory over long-time rival Pierce College, which enabled the Monarchs to keep the Victory Bell for another season. That win highlighted a two-game winning streak (they beat Los Angeles Southwest College 25-21 the following week).

Despite the odds stacked against the Monarchs in 2019 which included widespread youth, a less than 50-player roster, and the team going up against a scrappy and unforgiving American Metro Conference, the Monarchs consistently and successfully      confronted every obstacle that stood in their way.

After the 2019 season, the Monarchs placed four players on the Southern California Football Association American Division All-Metro League teams. One of those four included brilliant defensive end/outside linebacker Anthony Lira (he accumulated 23 tackles for loss) who was named the Metro League’s Defensive Player of the Year.  

That 2019 team also had the honor of sending six players to four-year colleges.

Covid-19 stalled the team’s upward momentum, but as the world escaped the virus’ grasp, the Monarchs, too, under the tutelage of Lester Towns, continued the team’s battle to return to excellence.