Beechwood names Elder graduate Jay Volker as its new head football coach
Beechwood has its new head football coach.
Jay Volker, who has been the head coach at Talawanda High School in Oxford, will take over one of Kentucky’s top high school football programs.
He replaces Noel Rash, who retired after leading the Tigers to their third-state state championship in Kentucky Class 2A, the program’s 17th all-time.
Beechwood is hosting a community meet and greet with Volker 6 p.m. Monday in the school gymnasium.
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In 17 years at the helm in Fort Mitchell, Rash had a record of 193-46, a winning percentage of 80.7%, and eight state championships, including the current three-peat in Class 2A from 2020-22.
Volker was head coach and defensive coordinator at Talawanda the previous two seasons, going 3-16 for Talawanda, who plays in the Southwest Ohio Conference.
He knows about the Beechwood legacy that not only includes Rash but Bernie Barre (1975-90) and Mike Yeagle (1991-2005).
“I am excited, honored, and incredibly humbled to be the next head coach at Beechwood because it is a top-tier school both athletically and academically,” Volker said in a press release. “You look back at nearly 50 years of Beechwood football, and three head coaches have been here. They’ve thrived and loved it. It tells you all you need to know about how special this place is and I can’t wait to get started.”
A Cincinnati native, Volker played in the Greater Catholic League as a team captain for both the football and track and field programs at Elder High School. After graduating from Elder in 2008, Volker played college football for Thomas More University, where he was a three-year team captain for the Saints. After college, Volker embarked on a career in teaching and coaching.
Talawanda was Volker’s first head coaching job. His older brother P.J. Volker is the defensive coordinator at Navy.
Before Talawanda, Volker was defensive coordinator at Kings for two seasons and Moeller for one. The Crusaders won an outright GCL championship that season.
He was at La Salle from 2015-17, helping the Lancers win two Division II state championships. He was co-defensive coordinator, special teams coordinator, linebackers coach and a strength and conditioning coach.
“Jay is a great leader of men. He’s a relentless worker and a coach that will carry on the winning tradition at Beechwood,” former Thomas More head coach Jim Hilvert said.
He also spent two years as an assistant coach in college football at Georgia State. One of his colleagues on the coaching staff was Jesse Minter, currently the defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan.
“Jay is a very relentless and very passionate coach that cares deeply about all of his players. He’s the most football-hungry person I’ve ever been around,” Minter said in the Beechwood release.
Volker graduated from Thomas More University in 2008 with a B.A. in biology. He earned a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from the American College of Education in 2022. He and his wife, Erika, welcomed their first child, a daughter named MacKenzie, three months ago.
In the release, Beechwood principal Justin Kaiser said Volker stood out with his enthusiasm and his vision for the program.
“Jay Volker carries himself with a polished and professional presence that can only come from experience,” Kaiser said. “He not only learned excellence, but lived it at Kings, LaSalle, Moeller, and during his playing days at Elder High School. What resonated most was his passion to grow our student-athletes into men through a brotherhood you can only find at Beechwood.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Beechwood names Elder graduate Jay Volker as its new head football coach
