Noel Rash announced his retirement on Monday as the Beechwood football coach after 17 seasons.
Rash held a meeting with the players and his assistant coaches on Monday morning, citing health reasons.
The 56-year-old Rash wants to spend more time with his family. Rash and his wife have a daughter that lives in California and a son that lives in Columbus, Ohio. He considered hanging it up before the 2021 season.
“I want everyone to know that nothing is drastically wrong with me health-wise,” Rash said. “But the time and stress involved in coaching football can take its toll and I want to make wellness a priority in this next phase of my life.”
The Tigers finished 193-46 during his tenure as head coach building upon the championships the Tigers won under Mike Yeagle and Bernie Barre. Beechwood won eight state championships, 15 region championships and finished undefeated in district play all 17 seasons under Rash. The Tigers have won state championships in Class 2A the last three years and finished state runner-up in 2015.
Beechwood finished 9-3 his first season in 2006, losing 26-21 to Newport Central Catholic in the second round of the Class A playoffs. But the Tigers have not lost in the second round since then. The only other season the Tigers did not win a region championship in Rash’s tenure came in 2013 when Beechwood finished 8-5 losing 35-21 to Frankfort in the region championship game.
Rash joined the staff in 2000 before receiving the promotion to head coach in 2006. He assisted Mike Yeagle’s last state championship in 2004 – a 23-7 win over Danville in the Class A title game.
The best season came two years ago when the Tigers finished 15-0 for their lone undefeated season under Rash. That team ended a six-game losing streak to rival Covington Catholic.
“There is nowhere quite like Beechwood. The Friday nights are special, and so too is the community support of everything that goes on at school, both academically and with extracurricular activities. I am so humbled to have been part of such a special place,” Rash said. “Beechwood is my home and without these players and families, we don’t accomplish any of this. I’m a product of the sport.”
Senior Konner Huljak completed his last season as an offensive lineman and linebacker. Huljak said playing football for Beechwood has helped him grow leaps and bounds as a person and as a player.
“I couldn’t thank them enough,” Huljak said. “I feel like coming in there as a sophomore, (the coaches) all saw me and they kept believing. Maybe I didn’t get a lot of time early. But they knew that there was going to be something eventually. They just kept me positive through all those times. They kept believing in me even though I wasn’t the star out there. It helped me be who I was a senior and it helped me lead the team.”
But a huge thing Beechwood also did that year is take down arch-nemesis Mayfield, 38-7 in Fort Mitchell in the Class 2A state semifinals for the first time in school history before besting Lexington Christian, 23-21 in the state championship game. Beechwood had not beaten Mayfield in eight previous meetings. The Cardinals beat the Tigers in the Class A state championship games in 1995 and 2002 and four straight years in the state semifinals from 2009-12 then again in ’14 and ’19.
Covington Catholic ended Beechwood’s 27-game winning streak with a 31-14 win in Park Hills on Sept. 16 this past season. But the Tigers drove back to the state championship game and beat Mayfield for the first time in three state championship game meetings, 14-13 finishing 14-1 and completing the best three-year run in program history at 39-3 overall.
“It’s an honor. History is history. I remember going into that (2021) game it doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past,” Huljak said. “We were going to do what we came here to do. But knowing that it was the first two times we beat them just adds a little sprinkle to the top.”
But the biggest thing Rash valued is relationships with the players often crediting families in the Fort Mitchell community for raising good kids. Rash said that allowed him and his staff to focus on the game hoping the players carry those lessons into adulthood.
“I am just overwhelmed with gratitude because Beechwood means so very much to me and my family. I love it here,” Rash said. “To everyone who has been associated with and supported our program, thank you. And especially to the wonderful players I’ve coached —you all are amazing. We created great memories on the field. But watching the impact you’ve had long after leaving Beechwood is the true measurement of our success together.”
Beechwood High Principal Justin Kaiser noted Rash is leaving the program in excellent shape with more talent coming through the pipeline. Kaiser said the position will be posted immediately wanting to find a coach that will “build upon that culture of brotherhood.”
Beechwood loses 18 seniors from last year’s team including their leading rusher in Mitchell Berger at 1,119 yards rushing on on 121 carries and 21 touchdowns for an average of more than nine yards per carry. But sophomore quarterback Clay Hayden returns after completing 106-of-157 passes for 1,822 yards, 21 touchdowns and just two interceptions.
“Coach Rash galvanized an entire community to rally around a special group of young people every fall during football season,” Kaiser, a 1998 Beechwood graduate, said. “Beechwood football is more than a program or individual, it is a culture of commitment, sacrifice, and brotherhood that Coach Rash inherited and enhanced in his time here. Combine that with an incredibly successful run as head coach, for mentoring our student-athletes the right way, and for representing Beechwood in a first-class manner on and off the field – you have a coach that ventures into legendary status. Coach has solidified that legendary status over the past 20 years.”
Rash played football at nearby Lloyd Memorial graduating from there in 1985 before playing at Thomas More. Rash lost his father to Leukemia when he was two years old. His coaches were the father figures in his life.
Rash still plans to keep his role as a social studies teacher at Beechwood High. He plans to retire from teaching in a few years.
The Tigers own 17 state championships in school history. That is good for third in the state behind Louisville Trinity (27) and Highlands (23).