With the start of their football program inching closer, St. Henry District High School is now accepting resumes for the first head football coach in school history.
The program will start up in 2024 and field middle school and JV teams for the 2024 season with the first varsity season anticipated for 2025.
With the amount of interest generated, the school announced in June that they were moving the timeline up a year. They were originally slated to begin varsity football in 2026, but the popularity of spring flag football in the Crusader Youth Football League drove the timeline up.
The turf field on campus helps, too. That was installed and finished in August 2022.
Those interested in the position should send their information to Athletic Director Jim Demler at jdemler@shdhs.org. Resumes will be accepted through Nov. 30 and interviews will take place in December.
Demler is no stranger to starting up a program, doing so at Ryle in the 1990’s. They’ve formed a football committee with principal Grant Brannen, school administrators and parents, the stakeholders and R.J. Riegler, who is the director of the football operations. Riegler coached football for 11 years, four of them as head football coach at Scott High School.
Another factor in the timing is the way the current KHSAA football realignment schedule is set up. Come 2025, more realignment decisions will be made and St. Henry wants to be in the mix. They’re expecting to be in Class 2A based off enrollment, which would line them up with the current Class 2A, 5th District with Beechwood, Walton-Verona, Bracken County, Carroll County, Gallatin County and Owen County. Based off prior years, it’s highly unlikely a district would field seven teams, so some schools could be moved elsewhere or realigned to a higher or lower class, depending on enrollment numbers.