Newport High School selects Wynn as varsity football head coach; Wildcats are 4-29 past three seasons

By Don Owen
NKyTribune reporter

Joe Wynn has been selected as the new football head coach at Newport High School.

Wynn, 27, played high school football at Dayton High School and has spent nine seasons as an assistant coach at Holmes and Campbell County high schools under head coach Steve Lickert. Wynn, a recent graduate of Northern Kentucky University, will teach in Newport’s New Pathways alternative school program.

“I am extremely honored to be the head football coach of the Newport Wildcats and a teacher at Newport High School,” said Wynn, who has served as an offensive and special teams coordinator. “I’ve always dreamed about being a head coach and I’m grateful to Newport High School for giving me this opportunity. Right now I’m just excited to get going.”

Wynn was introduced to the Newport players Thursday afternoon. He replaces Matt Schmitz, who resigned as head coach two weeks ago.

“Coach Wynn is an outstanding individual who will do a tremendous job coaching our varsity team and overseeing our football program,” said Newport principal Kyle Niederman. “When I asked him why he wanted to be a head coach, he told me it was because he wanted to help kids. That really stuck with me. He has a lot of energy and knows how to relate to kids from all walks of life.”

Niederman, who played college football at Thomas More, said he was impressed by Wynn’s background and knowledge of football.

“He’s an offensive guy who likes to spread ’em out,” Niederman said. “He will really utilize our athletes.”

Wynn was a running back, receiver and defensive back at Dayton which at the time was coached by Lickert, who was recently named the head football coach at Newport Central Catholic High School.

“I learned so much playing for, watching and coaching with Coach Lickert,” Wynn said. “He helped me along the way and really trained me to be a head coach, giving me more and more responsibility over the years we were together. I wouldn’t be in this position without Coach Lickert doing all for me that he did.”

Wynn has two children, Autumn, 4, and Corbyn, 2. He is engaged to be married to Samantha Waller.

Wynn inherits a Newport program that has posted a 4-29 record the past three seasons. The Wildcats finished 2-9 last year under then-head coach Tim Viox.

Viox stepped down from the position following last season, and Schmitz was hired as the replacement. Schmitz had been given a second chance to coach Newport’s football program, despite an arrest in 2015 for marijuana possession that prompted his dismissal.

But after being arrested by police in Dayton for alcohol intoxication in a public place two weeks ago, Schmitz resigned as Newport’s football coach.