Boone County High School football coach Bryson Warner resigned from the position on Monday, ending a five-year tenure with the Rebels.
Warner informed the administration of his decision, citing wanting to spend more time with his family.
“I based everything around our football team on family being first and the most important thing to all of us. With a 14 and 15-year-old at home, I want to spend more time with them,” Warner said. “That’s the main reason, I enjoyed every moment here at Boone County.”
It was a tough position to enter from the start, the Rebels having gone 6-71 in the prior seven seasons before Warner’s arrival in 2019. He led the Rebels to 13 victories in his five years with the program and overcame challenges with the COVID season in 2020 and installation of turf on the football field for the 2021 season.
“Working together through all that and the turf project, Bryson made for a great partner during those challenging times,” Rebels Athletic Director Lance Melching said. “He was hungry for great success and had a more successful tenure in recent history. If it was a different stage in life he wanted to continue, but like he told players family came first.”
Warner’s most successful season with the program came in 2021 when they won four games, but ultimately missed out on a playoff berth due to the ever so competitive Class 5A, Fifth District that featured, Covington Catholic, Highlands, Cooper and Conner at the time. They were the odd team out and in recent realignment decisions prior to the 2023 season, Warner was vocal in his expression for his program to be considered for a different district.
“In today’s world there’s some serious challenges that need to be continually touched on,” Warner said. “The game on football is a violent, physical sport and when you have heavy disadvantages, it’s more than numbers that need to be looked at. It’s not right and there’s a whole lot of other schools out there in the same situation.”
Back in January 2023, Warner stated in a request to KHSAA commissioner Julian Tackett that they be moved to the Class 5A, Seventh District with East Jessamine, West Jessamine, Madison Southern and Montgomery County that “would be a lot better economically, equal and competitive playing opportunities for our program and players.”
Realignment will come up again in January 2025 for the 2025-28 seasons.
Regardless of district realignment decisions, Warner wants to be remembered for being there for the kids and being a father figure for them. He’s very thankful for the community support they’ve received and played a big role in helping the Rebels secure new uniforms for the 2023 season.
“Some of the things we wanted to do was get the program in really good order financially and that took a community effort, the alumni was huge,” Warner said. “A lot of people love Boone County football, the school was economically disadvantaged when these districts were put together and the fight is not over yet. We’ll continue to do everything we can as community members. These relationships that we built with these kids, they’re like sons to us now.”
Warner finished 13-36 in the five seasons. Melching said the job posting will be up soon and they’ll hope to conduct interviews and find the right person for the job before spring practice starts up, usually taking place for programs in March or April.
The Rebels had 16 seniors on their 66-man roster for the 2023 season that finished 2-8 and return their leading rusher in Braxton Graves as well as leading tackler Jonathan Jacob.
