Ryan Hahn tried to find a job in the business world upon graduating from Hanover College (Indiana) in 2015 and playing four years for the Panthers football program.
But when that did not work out, former Grant County Head Football Coach Kevin Siple hired Hahn to assist the Braves. Hahn said the coaches saw how well he related to kids and asked him if he considered going into teaching.
The 2011 Highlands graduate said it was difficult to get into the teaching program at Hanover. But Hahn earned his Master of Arts in Teaching at Northern Kentucky University while coaching at Grant County and Hahn ultimately taught at Grant County.
That path has led Hahn to his first head football coaching position. The Newport administration recently named him to the vacant spot.
“Ryan knows the school. He knows the community and we know that he’s ready for this position. He loves the game,” said Brian Wolfzorn, Newport Director of Athletics. “He loves the school. He loves the kids. I know he’s really excited to take over this program.”
Hahn spent three years at Grant County before moving to the Newport staff in 2018. He went from being an offensive and defensive line coach to run game coordinator during those three years at Grant County.
Hahn started out as an offensive and defensive line coach at Newport with more of a focus on the offensive line. In 2019 and 2020, Hahn served as the Junior Varsity head coach. Hahn is already on staff at Newport High. He teaches Freshman Social Studies.
“I think this will help our kids at Newport meet that trust factor,” Hahn said. “I would like to think that I earned it. Looking at the transition, I knew that if I got this job that the people that I bring in around me have to either have that personality trait that the kids can grab onto or that the kids already know who they are. We’ve got a few people that will be coming onto the staff that these kids already know, which is great for us. That’s the key to all of this. That takes away that whole learning curve of this coach wants this thing done or I don’t know really what this coach wants and things like that.”
The 29-year-old may be the third head coach at Newport in three seasons. But Wolfzorn noted it will be different than last year.
“The main thing that is going to counter that is having somebody who has been here and that knows the kids,” Wolfzorn said. “That absolutely will be huge as opposed to brining in a third new person in three years and starting from scratch. That kind of lessons that blow of that turnover. He was running the (offseason) conditioning in the interim. Certainly, he’s going to have his own plan for the program.”
Newport finished 3-8 last year losing 58-8 on the road against the eventual Class 2A state champion Beechwood Tigers. The Wildcats finished tied with Holy Cross and Lloyd Memorial for second in District 6 action. Their wins came against Lloyd Memorial, Pendleton County and Bellevue.
Brian Weinrich served as head coach at Newport one year before taking the Campbell County job. The former Highlands Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator had taken over for Joe Wynn, who took the job at Mason County after the 2020 season.
Newport finished 4-4 in 2020. But the Wildcats finished 8-4 in 2019 losing 38-19 at Beechwood in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs. Wynn had been there three years.
“Ryan Hahn is a great football coach,” Weinrich said. “More importantly, he is a great person that truly cares about his players. I am excited for him and this opportunity. The Newport football team is very fortunate to have Coach Hahn leading the program.”
Newport ran the Spread offense and Hahn said that will continue. The Wildcats started out in the 3-3-5 defense before switching to the 4-2-5 because of injuries. Hahn said the Wildcats had more defensive linemen than linebackers so the 4-2-5 allowed them to rotate defensive linemen in and give linebackers playing both ways a break if needed.
“It will be interesting going forward. We have a lot of linemen that are showing up to weights. We may stay in the 4-2,” Hahn said. “But I grew up in the 3-3 Stack. I know how to run that very well. It’ll be interesting to see who we have personnel-wise when we get closer to the summer and who we can plug in different spots.”
Hahn played in a culture of excellence for Highlands. The Bluebirds won four Class 5A state championships in his four years of high school. They beat Christian County, 50-0 in the state championship game his senior year in 2010. Hahn played on the offensive line at Highlands and Hanover. He tributed that culture of excellence to the likes of retired Highlands Head Coach Dale Mueller, Weinrich and current Highlands Offensive Line Coach Scott Turner.
“In my time at Newport, our kids have a lot of pride. I’ve seen it done,” Hahn said. “There’s plenty of talent. When one kid shows up, wants to play football and is one of the athletes in that school, you will have a trickle-down effect where a lot of athletes will show up and want to play. I was always interested in what (Mueller) had to say. If he was talking, none of the players talked while he was talking because what he had to say was so important. I can remember all his stories even now. He was so good at connecting real world stuff to football. I only hope that anything I can do for these kids in connecting it to real world stuff and developing men that will go out in the community and make a positive impact whether it’s families, whether it’s their job, whatever that I can hope to do half as well as Dale Mueller did. If I can do half as well, I know I’ll make a great impact on these kids.”
Teams outscored Newport, 325-136 last year for an average of just below 30 to just above 12 per game. The Wildcats struggled running the ball and stopping it last year. They rushed for 788 and allowed 1,838 for averages of between 71 and 72 per game and just more than 167 allowed per game. Newport passed for 1,150 yards and allowed 1,068 for averages of between 104 and 105 and just above 97 per game.
Newport graduates 11 players from the team including quarterback Ethan Jefferson. Jefferson completed 75 of 153 passes for 992 yards, nine touchdowns and nine interceptions.
But they do return their leading rusher and pass catcher in junior MyKel King. King rushed for 298 yards on 53 attempts and three touchdowns for an average of between five and six yards per carry. King also had 30 catches for 409 yards and four touchdowns averaging between 13 and 14 yards per reception.
The Wildcats also return the likes of sophomore lineman Khalil Barber and junior quarterback/defensive back Davion Mayes. Mayes had 21 tackles including two for a loss and two interceptions.
“(Hahn) pushes us hard and just encourages us to do stuff better,” Barber said. “If we mess up on a rep, he wants us to redo it so we get better. If we’re able to move faster, we’ll get to where we need to block faster.”
Newport last drove to the third round of the playoffs in 2014. The Wildcats lost to the rival Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds, 42-26 in the Class 2A region title game that year.
