Joshua Stratton, a Columbus, Ohio native who has
spent the last two years as the head football coach at Lloyd High School in Erlanger,
Kentucky, has been selected as the new head coach of the New Richmond Lions
pending school board approval.
“Coach Stratton stood out to us among a deep pool of
candidates,” said Supt. Adam Bird in announcing the hire on Thursday. “He will continue the NR tradition of
excellent leadership from the football coach. “I believe that he will have an
outstanding impact on the lives of our football players and on the students he
has in class.”
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| Joshua Stratton |
A graduate of Morehead State, Stratton replaces
Scott Herman who coached the Lions for the 2012 season before deciding to
return to Montgomery, Texas where he had coached for six years.
“I feel completely blessed with this opportunity,”
said Stratton. “I’ve had my eye on New Richmond and when this job came up
again, there was no way that I wasn’t going to pursue it. It’s not just
football, it’s academics, commitment and everything that makes New Richmond a
great place to coach and teach.”
Stratton was named the 2012 Owen Hauck Award
recipient given by the Northern Kentucky Football Coaches Association given for
turning around a struggling program after coaching Lloyd to an 8-4 record and a
district runner-up finish. He was the Kentucky 2A District 6 coach of the year
in 2011 and 2012.
“Josh will immerse himself into the community and
the school and will be very supportive of all the programs at the High School,”
said New Richmond athletic director Doug Foote, who led the coaching search
which received more than 70 applicants. “I’m very excited to get to work with
Josh as a teacher and a coach. Josh will bring great excitement and passion to
the program and will continue the great tradition of winning football at New
Richmond High School.”
“His enthusiasm for the classroom as well as the
game of football will be extremely contagious with our students!” predicted New
Richmond High School principal Mark Bailey. “Results of his work in the
classroom show that he is a very knowledgeable and inspiring teacher. Mr. Stratton's experience as a head football
coach brings a wisdom and knowledge of the game that only comes from experience
within that position.”
Stratton’s coaching experience also includes two
years at Covington Holmes, where he coached running backs in 2009 and
quarterbacks in 2010; two years at Herculaneum High School in Missouri where he
was the offensive coordinator as well as the school’s varsity basketball coach
in 2007 and 2008; three years at Grant County High School where he was
quarterback coach and head freshman football coach as well as the freshman
basketball coach. He was also freshman boys basketball coach at Gahanna Lincoln
High School in Columbus from 2000-2002.
Lion football fans may see a few more passing plays
next season, but Stratton doesn’t plan to do a major overhaul on offense.
“I want to
build on their prior success, but you can’t be one dimensional anymore in
football,” said Stratton, who teaches social studies. “We will be very balanced
and there may be games where we will pass more and other games where we will run
the ball exclusively.”
Stratton’s defensive philosophy is to “cause
destruction” which resulted in his Lloyd defense recording 19 interceptions
last season.
“My philosophy is to get as much speed on the field
as possible and get 11 hats on the ball,” said Stratton. “We will be aggressive
and cause destruction. On each and every snap the goal of the defense will be
to take the ball away from the offense.”
