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Familiar faces in new places: Meet Cincinnati’s new high school football coaches in 2024

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Familiar faces in new places: Meet Cincinnati’s new high school football coaches in 2024

High school football action in the Greater Cincinnati area is just over a month away, with many teams’ first official game scheduled for the week of Aug. 19. This year, there will be more than a dozen new head coaches in Cincinnati-area high school football.

Here are the new or new-to-them coaches fans will see on the sidelines this fall:

Adam Kozerski, Bishop Brossart

Previous position: Assistant coach at Holy Cross High School

Background: Kozerski, the son of Bruce Kozerski, who recently retired after 20 years as the head football coach at Holy Cross, will take on his first head coaching gig in 2024. Kozerski was on staff at Holy Cross from 2012-2024 and held roles ranging from junior varsity head coach to wide receivers and defensive line coach. He teaches calculus and algebra at Bishop Brossart.

What to expect: Korzenski has said his main strength in coaching is on the offensive side of the ball. He said his team will be resilient and hard-nosed; he is optimistic about the squad’s quarterback and running back situation. The Mustangs were 5-6 in 2023.

Dan Court, Boone County High School

Previous position: Physical education teacher and tennis coach at Boone County

Background: Court graduated from Highlands High School in 2008, where he was a part of two state championship teams under legendary head coach Dale Mueller. He later spent eight years as an assistant coach at Highlands, helping the Bluebirds to four state championships. He has also coached at Newport Central Catholic and Scott High School.

What to expect: Court has his work cut out for him as Boone County hasn’t seen a winning season since going 9-5 in 2011.

Tucker Berger, Deer Park High School

Previous position: Offensive coordinator at Deer Park

Background: Berger has been on the staff at Deer Park since 2020. He’s a graduate of Wyoming High School, where he led the Cowboys in tackles in both his junior and senior years as a linebacker. He later played club football at Miami University.

What to expect: Deer Park has had a record of 32-40 in the last seven seasons under former coach Calvin Johnson. The Wildcats went 3-8 in 2023. Berger’s pedigree on the defensive side of the ball makes it seem likely that his teams will have a strong defensive edge.

Trace Reynolds, Edgewood High School

Previous position: Quarterbacks coach at Heidelberg University

Background: Reynolds was the starting quarterback at Edgewood during the 2013 and 2014 seasons, earning all-region honors in 2014. He started his coaching career as a tight ends coach at Heidelberg from 2019-2021. In 2022, he coached tight ends and fullbacks at the University of Findlay.

What to expect: Scott Clemmons vacated his role as the head coach of Edgewood football to take the school’s athletic director job. Reynolds will have support in his new role with his predecessor just down the hall. Reynolds has big shoes to fill, though. Clemmons led the Cougars to a 74-55 record over 12 seasons. Reynolds said he hopes his team will be hard-nosed with a blue-collar mentality.

Fred Cranford, Bishop Fenwick High School

Previous position: Volunteer assistant coach at Fenwick

Background: Cranford returns to his alma mater for a second stint as the head football coach at Fenwick. In total, he’s coached 15 seasons at Fenwick already. He was an assistant from 1998-2005 and then the head coach from 2006-2012. Cranford then spent six years as the head coach at Loveland High School. In his first season at Loveland, Cranford led the team to a 15-0 record and a Division II state championship. Cranford went 34-32 over six seasons at Loveland before stepping down to spend more time with family.

What to expect: For Cranford, Fenwick has always been home. The Falcons went 5-5 in 2023 and haven’t made the playoffs since 2022. Crawford said he expects his players to work hard, compete and bleed red and gold.

Dave Brausch, James N. Gamble Montessori High School

Previous position: Head coach at Bellevue High School (most recently 2022 season)

Background: Brausch has coached football at the high school or college levels for 40 years (He spent four years as an assistant at Mount St. Joseph University). In 1998, his Lebanon Warriors won the Division II state championship after losing in the state semifinals in 1997. He was also the defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Academy of Physical Education in 1992, when the school won the Division IV state championship.

What to expect: It’s been an offseason of uncertainty for Gamble Montessori. Former coach Robert Rachel stepped down in January after eight years with the team. Chris Mobley Jr. accepted the position of head coach in February, but he left less than two months later for the Purcell Marian job. Brausch has the experience to stabilize this team. The team finished 4-5 last season and hasn’t made the playoffs since back-to-back appearances in 2021 and 2022.

Curt Spencer, Holy Cross High School

Previous position: Holy Cross middle school team head coach

Background: Spencer is the first new head coach for Holy Cross in more than 20 years after longtime head coach and former Bengal Bruce Kozerski stepped down following the 2023 season. Spencer was a football official around Northern Kentucky from 2008 to 2017. From 2017-2021, he was the linebackers coach for Holy Cross before becoming the head coach of Holy Cross’s middle school program.

What to expect: Spencer led the Holy Cross eighth-grade team to a championship last season. Holy Cross fans hope he can replicate that success with players a few years older. Under Kozerski the last 20 years, Holy Cross has seen some success, winning the 2011 Class 2A final.

Arryn Chenault, Little Miami High School

Previous position: Special teams coordinator at Winton Woods

Background: Since 2016, Chenault has coached at Walnut Hills, Sycamore, Norwood, Lakota East and Winton Woods. In 2013 and 2014, he was a captain for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats as a defensive back. Chenault, 31, starred at Fairfield High School. Chenault’s uncle, Darryn Chenault, will join Arryn on Little Miami’s staff as the associate head coach. Darryn received a kidney from Arryn last year.

What to expect: Opponents outscored Little Miami 333-142 last year, a stat Chenault will seek to reverse. He said he hopes to build a family-like atmosphere around his team that helps turn his players into men. On the field, he expects his team to be relentless, smart and disciplined.

Brian Damewood, Loveland High School

Previous position: Assistant coach at Loveland

Background: After former Loveland head coach Andy Cruse left to become the tight ends coach at Miami University, Loveland decided to promote longtime assistant Brian Damewood. According to his LinkedIn page, Damewood has worked for Loveland City Schools since 1998.

What to expect: It’s hard to know what to expect from first-year coach Damewood. Loveland finished 5-7 last season. The team had one of the better offenses in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference last season, but just allowed too many points. Much of Damewood’s experience is as a defensive backs and special teams coach, so he will look to rectify that.

Kali Jones, Middletown High School

Previous position: Head coach at Withrow

Background: Jones has twice been named the Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference coach of the year. Last season, he led Withrow to a 12-2 record and an appearance in the Division II regional final. It was the first time the school has ever appeared in the regional final.

What to expect: Jones said a lot of his success at Withrow stemmed from rebuilding the culture there into a winner. He plans to do the same at Middletown, which finished 3-8 in 2024. He compared the Greater Miami Conference to the SEC, where there is hardly any room for error.

Paul Wiggins Jr., Newport High School

Previous position: Head coach at Bishop Brossart

Background: Wiggins is a 1986 graduate of Newport High School. He was a defensive end and outside linebacker for the Wildcats during his playing days. In 2014, Wiggins took over a Brossart football program that had just 21 players. In 2016, Wiggins and his team won the school’s first district title. Wiggins won district titles in 2021 and 2022 as well and finished with a record of 67-43 over 10 seasons.

What to expect: Since 2014, his Brossart teams went 67-43 and won three district championships. It will be interesting to see what he can do with Newport, which went 8-4 last season. After being hired, Wiggins stressed the importance of his players caring more about the team than individual accomplishments.

Chris Mobley Jr., Purcell Marian High School

Previous position: He was defensive coordinator at Dixie Height High School before a two-month stint as head coach at Gamble Montessori

Background: Mobley has seven seasons of head coaching experience. He was the head man at Hughes for six seasons, going 26-28 overall but leading the team to three consecutive winning seasons for the first time. He graduated from Kent State University and also played football at Indiana State University, where he was the defensive captain in 2007. In 2023, Dixie Heights led the state of Kentucky in sacks per game while he served as defensive coordinator.

What to expect: Purcell Marian, 10-3 in 2023, lost key players to graduation and transfers. Expect the Cavaliers to be a defensive-minded team, thanks to Mobley’s background. If the pattern holds, his impact in that area could be immediate.

Justin Franklin, Scott High School

Previous position: Associate head coach/defensive coordinator at North Oldham

Background: Franklin has been a head coach at two different stops. He led Trimble County from 2012-2015, going 4-37 during that time, before being the head coach at Carroll County from 2019-2021. His teams at Carroll County amassed a record of 20-14 and had first-round playoff wins in 2020 and 2021. After playing linebacker, defensive end and quarterback for his alma mater Carroll County, Franklin played football in college, including two years as a long snapper at the University of Louisville.

What to expect: At his introductory press conference, Franklin compared his Scott Eagles to the real thing. He said eagles have great vision, are master engineers and are the only birds that fly into storms. He wants his Eagles to embody those traits on and off the football field. Scott plays in a very difficult division, and the team was 2-8 last year. Franklin stressed the importance of discipline and buy-in for his team.

Ben Moorman, West Clermont High School

Previous position: Defensive coordinator at West Clermont

Background: Moorman graduated from Moeller in 2007 and then was a wide receiver and kicker on the Mount St. Joseph football team. He was the defensive coordinator at West Clermont for the two seasons prior to being named the head coach. Before coaching at West Clermont, he was a defensive backs coach at Loveland and Madeira and an assistant coach at Moeller.

What to expect: West Clermont has had only one winning season since 2000. Moorman said his priority will be to build a culture of winning and a positive environment for athletes.

Anthony Berry, Withrow University High School

Previous position: Assistant head coach and defensive coordinator for Withrow

Background: Berry played at Withrow from 2006 to 2010 before playing college football at Notre Dame College and Mount St. Joseph. His coaching career started in 2016 at Woodward, where he was the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. From 2017-2020, before getting an assistant job at Withrow, he was a coach at Taft.

What to expect: Withrow, which broke a school record for most wins in a season with 12 in 2023, had one of the best defenses in the state last year. That defense pitched five shutouts and allowed just eight points per game on average. With Berry now the head coach, expect the emphasis on strong defense to continue.

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