Casey Jaynes, principal of Logan County High School, Tuesday announced the hiring of Dain Gregory as the school’s new football coach. Gregory comes to
Logan County from Ballard Memorial High School where he served as the assistant head football coach/defensive coordinator for the past three seasons.
Prior to his tenure at Ballard Memorial, Gregory served as an assistant coach at Massac County High School in Illinois and at his alma mater, Marshall
County High School.
Gregory is a 2000 graduate of Murray State University where he played football for four years, under Denver Johnson and Joe Pannunzio, earning two
varsity letters. While at Murray he was a part of three Ohio Valley Conference runner-up teams. Gregory is presently pursuing his Masters of Arts at
Campbellsville University.
Gregory is married to the former Kellen Rush of Louisville. They have two children, Marshall, 6, and Clara, 3, with another child expected in early
May.
The following is the text of Jaynes’ announcement:
“I would like to especially say thank you to our football search committee. This group of people spent many days going over applications, resumes and
interviews over the past six weeks. Their input to the process was invaluable to me and I would like to recognize them individually.
Harold Tackett
- LCHS basketball coach and former athletic director at Betsy Lane High School
Lonnie Mason
- former LCHS athlete, current assistant football and basketball coach
Richard Holloman
- LCHS football statistician for approximately 20 years
Andy Woodall
- played for state champion at Russellville and has performed the radio broadcast for LCHS football for 10 years
Myra Johnson
- parent of current junior Aaron Johnson, who has dedicated numerous hours to our football program
Hugh McReynolds
- LCHS AD
Marshall Kemp
- Logan County superintendent, who served in a personnel advisory capacity.
“Over 40 people applied for our head football coaching position, from various levels of experience and different states. We approached this position
like we would any other position in the county with applicants having to go through our Central Office personnel screening process. If the applicant
did not pass the screening process, they were not considered for the review process by the committee. Mr. Kemp always asks our coaches, “Would you
rather live on your teaching salary or on your coaching stipend?” This puts us into perspective of the importance of teaching. In high school all of
our coaches also have to be able to work with all students, not just football players, and be a productive member of our faculty. This process brought
us down to 19 qualified applicants.
“The committee was provided with the information that these 19 applicants sent to us, along with their teacher application and resume. From this list
of 19 applicants the committee chose seven potential candidates to interview. After interviews were conducted, the committee came to an agreement on
three candidates. I personally contacted references and interviewed the final three candidates after the committee/s recommendation.
“This decision was a very long and arduous process. I believe that the committee worked well together and brought up valid points as to what was the
best for Cougar football Again I want to thank them for their efforts in this process.
“Athletics is an important part of any high school and community in our Commonwealth. I don’t think that anyone would dispute that point. Athletics
promotes a sense of school pride. Athletics provides a means of community for many individuals and teaches many life lessons along the way. Students
who are involved in some form or extracurricular activity are 85 percent more likely to graduate high school and have a successful transition to adult
life. I have often said that I would not be where I am today without two of my coaches in high school, Kevin Gaugler and Harry Miller, who invested
their time and efforts in my development as an athlete, but also as a student and a person.
:But we must remember that these are student-athletes. Student comes first for a reason. At some point their athletic career ends. Some careers end at
high school, hopefully many at college and for two of our former students at the professional level. Soon enough our children will have to rely on
their education for their career. We must remember that as we develop our children into student-athletes. Decisions about their future should be based
on education first and athletics second.
“In our vision to become one of the top 10 high schools in the Commonwealth both in academics and extracurricular activities, it is important that we
develop students and athletes. This will involve many members of the community to start working together with our high school programs and helping us
to teach the fundamentals of any activity. Our K-8 centers are doing a wonderful job of preparing our students academically as shown by our recent
increase in test scores from 106th in the state to 45th in the state.
“We must do a better job of preparing our students at an early age the fundamentals of any activity that they are interested in, whether its music,
cheerleading, FFA, or football. If you will look at our traditionally successful programs at LCHS, our students get involved early in their career,
many at the 4th and 5th grade levels. Our programs that are beginning to develop success still struggle with cohesiveness at the
elementary and middle school levels. This is due to many factors that we are working on to help get all of our extracurricular activities pointed in
the right direction so that our community can experience that success.
“We will need everyone to support all of our programs, but especially football. It is a great time to rebuild and develop the tradition and success
that our students deserve and our community desires. Even if Urban Myer or Phillip Fulmer came here to coach, they could not be successful without the
support of the student-athletes, parents and community. It will take a lot of time, hard-work and dedication on our part, but anything worth obtaining
takes all of these qualities.
“I would like to introduce to you Mr. Dain Gregory.
“Mr. Gregory grew up in Calvert City, Ky., in Marshall County where he was a member of the first team in Marshall County football history to win a
playoff game. He began his football journey playing for his father in Junior Pro in Marshall County.
“Mr. Gregory’s career at Marshall County High School spanned from 1994-1996. He was a member of the 1995 team that was beaten in the semifinals by
eventual state champion Louisville St. Xavier. Mr. Gregory then played as a walk-on at Murray State University from 1997-2000 where he was a two-year
letterman and a member of three Ohio Valley Conference runner-up squads. He played for two head coaches while at Murray State, Denver Johnson and Joe
Pannunzio.
“Mr. Gregory’s coaching career spans over a period of eight years and two states. It started as an assistant at Marshall County High School and then
moved to be an assistant coach at Massac County High School where his teams broke many offensive records and won a conference championship. Coach
Gregory then moved on to Ballard Memorial High School where he was the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. Ballard had not seen the
playoffs in six seasons and had only won six games in the previous six seasons. Coach Gregory’s first year there Ballard finished 6-6, played for the
district championship and was beaten in the second round of the playoffs. His defense broke many defensive records the first year and finished within
the top 15 defenses in the Class A.
“Ballard finished 4-8 the second season and was beaten in the second round of the playoffs by eventual state runner-up Mayfield In 2010, Ballard
finished 6-6, playing one of the toughest schedules in the state and was beaten in the second round by eventual state champion Mayfield. Coach Gregory
has had the privilege of coaching multiple all-conference and all-state performers in both Kentucky and Illinois. He has worked as a quarterback
analyst at the NIKE/ESPN Elite 11 regional at Ohio State University under quarterback guru Bob Johnson of Mission Viejo High School in California.
“Coach Gregory is married to the former Kellen Rush of Louisville, who was a member of the crew team at Murray State. They have two children, a
six-year-old son, Marshall and a three-year-old daughter, Clara. They are also happily preparing to welcome a new member to our family, another girl in
May.
“I am proud to introduce to you, Dain Gregory, football Head Coach of Logan County High School.”