Jeff Stowers is back as head girls basketball coach at Simon Kenton High School. Stowers, 69, was promoted from his assistant position on Wednesday.
“Glad to be back,” Stowers said. “But I never left.”
Stowers was informed by Simon Kenton school principal Craig Reinhart Wednesday morning that he is getting his old job back. Stowers formally interviewed for the position Tuesday.
“I felt that this is not only something I wanted to do, but it’s something I needed to do at this juncture,” Stowers said.
He indicated assistant coach Ryan Pernell will remain a key part of the staff but suggested there could be an additional assistant put in place.
Stowers’ reappointment follows a reshuffling of women’s coaches at the local college level that’s had an effect on Simon Kenton.
Stowers served as top assistant to Pioneers head coach and son Brenden Stowers the past two seasons. Brenden Stowers resigned in May to accept a position as assistant coach for the Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team. He’ll be working under newly-hired head coach Jeff Hans. Hans resigned as head coach at Thomas More University to take the NKU job.
“Dad’s going to do a great job, obviously.” Brenden Stowers said. “He’s been the coach.”
Previous to his brief stint as Simon Kenton girls assistant, Jeff Stowers head-coached the Pioneers for 20 seasons. He won an impressive 70% of his games, posting a 427-180 record. He’s on a short list of Northern Kentucky girls basketball coaches with 400 high school wins or more, ranking fourth all-time. Stowers ranks among the 50 winningest prep girls basketball coaches in Kentucky history.
Stowers has won 527 games in his coaching career. Prior to Simon Kenton, he won 100 games as Seven Hills High School boys basketball coach in Cincinnati.
“I wasn’t done with coaching in 2022,” Jeff Stowers said of his Simon Kenton resignation that year. “I recognized Brenden needed to be in that head coach spot to help further his career. We switched and I stepped back and let him lead, and I spent more time with my grandkids.”
The elder Stowers has 11 grandchildren, but he remained on the Pioneers’ bench with his son the past two seasons.
“Brenden didn’t need any help from me because he knows what he’s doing,” Jeff Stowers said. “In my opinion, he’s too good for the high school level and I was there to help out. I handled paperwork, banquets, the alumni, things that a head coach has to do. I did that so he could concentrate on what he’s really good at and that’s coaching.”
It’s a seamless transition putting a successful coach back at the top of a program that’s been thriving under the Stowers’ coaching direction for more than 20 years.
The elder Stowers began his Simon Kenton coaching career in 2002. His teams won five Eighth Region championships and added six runner-up finishes, going 29-11 in region tournament games. The Pioneers won ten 32nd District crowns under his guidance. They include six in a row from 2013-18.
Before joining the 32nd District and the 8th Region in 2005, Simon Kenton competed in the 9th Region. The Pioneers were in the 33rd District where matchups between Jeff Stowers’ Pioneers and Nell Fooke’s Boone County was pure coaching theater. Stowers led the Pioneers to the district final and the 9th Region tournament semifinals in his second season. They finished 17-14.
The victories kept piling up. The Pioneers won at least 20 games 14 times. They enjoyed 17 winning seasons in Stowers’ 20 years at the helm.
Brenden Stowers took over for his father in 2022. He led Simon Kenton to a 19-15 record. That included a sixth 8th Region title for the Pioneers and a berth in the state tournament his first season. The Pioneers finished 21-11 in 2023-24. They won their first district title since 2018.
The younger Stowers, a 1999 Simon Kenton graduate, was his father’s assistant for 13 years. Like his father, Brenden starred collegiately at Northern Kentucky. He attempted a professional basketball career before taking the coaching path. Now, he’s back at NKU, leaving Simon Kenton chores to his father.
How far has Simon Kenton girls basketball come in the 22 years under the Stowers’ direction? The Pioneers finished 1-21 in 2001-02, the season prior to Jeff Stowers’ arrival. They won just two of 45 games in two seasons before Stowers. From that perspective, the elder Stowers literally put Simon Kenton girls basketball on the map. He increased its relevance on the local landscape from non-existent to championship-caliber.
It was not the first time Stowers took a basketball program to another level. He helped transform a Northern Kentucky State College men’s basketball team from virtual obscurity into a regional power. The school later became known as Northern Kentucky University.
Stowers averaged 14.8 points per game during his Norse career. Known as one of the most exciting players to wear a Norse uniform, he still ranks among the top 15 scorers all-time at NKU with 1,410 points. He is a 1999 David Lee Holt NKU Hall of Fame inductee, part of the school’s second induction class.