By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The new head football coach at Boone County High School is Marty Steele, a former player and long-time assistant coach in the program.
Steele, 49, was the team’s offensive line coach the last two seasons. He applied for the head coaching position following the resignation of Jeff Griffith, who had a 1-21 record in two seasons as head coach of the Rebels. Steele was also an assistant under former Boone County head coach Rick Thompson for several seasons.
Thompson retired in 2012 season and is now an assistant coach at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati.
New Boone County head football coach Marty Steele (Photo Provided)
For the seniors on next year’s Boone County team, this will be their third head coach in four years. But Steele said the transition should be easier this time since he has been on the coaching staff for several seasons. He’s also a science teacher and athletic director at the school.
Steele said he met with Boone County players last Thursday to begin preparing for the 2015 season. He told them the team’s main focus will be improving in two areas — running the ball on offense and stopping the run on defense.
“They were excited about it,” Steele said of the players’ reaction. “They’ve been pushed around for a couple of years and they want to play a more physical style, and they figure they’ll get that from me.”
The Rebels finished 1-10 and 0-11 in two seasons under Griffith, who left to take the head coaching job at Barren County. Steele said there were several underclassmen in last year’s starting lineup and the experience they gained will help in the rebuilding process.
“We had a lot of sophomores who were playing varsity last year and by putting a team together with those kids we’ll be much more competitive,” the new coach said.
Steele graduated from Boone County in 1983 and started his coaching career there in 1986. He was also a teacher and assistant coach at Ryle and Carroll County high schools before returning to Boone County in 1999. He will remain the high school’s athletic director and announced the hiring of two other head coaches.
Mackenzie Martin is taking charge of the Boone County volleyball program. She coached the freshman and junior varsity teams last year and is employed as a speech-language pathologist in the school system.
The Rebels’ varsity team posted a 20-15 record last season under former head coach Jessica Pass.
Chris Norris is the new boys’ head soccer coach at Boone County. He was one of the team’s assistant coaches from 1998-2002 and served as an assistant coach at Anderson High School in Ohio last season. He recently returned to college to get a teaching certificate in English.
Norris is taking charge of a Boone County varsity team that made it to the 9th Region semifinals last year and finished with an 8-9-5 record under former coach Nathan Browning.
Boone County has at least one more head coaching vacancy to fill. The school needs to find a replacement for Nell Fookes, who resigned as girls’ head basketball coach after 30 years.
Fookes compiled a remarkable 686-253 record and won nine 9th Region championships as Rebels’ head coach.
“That’s next on the list,” Steele said of filling Boone County’s coaching vacancies. “That’s going to be kind of a drawn out affair when you’re looking for somebody to step into her shoes.”
