By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Tony Harden, head coach of the record-setting St. Henry girls’ cross country team for the last 15 years, has left the program to become a teacher and assistant coach at Bishop Brossart.
St. Henry holds the Kentucky high school record for most state championships in girls’ cross country team with 19 in the Class A division for small schools. The Crusaders won 12 of those titles with Harden as head coach. His teams set the state record for most consecutive state championships by winning six straight from 2011 to 2016.
Harden, who was inducted into the Northern Kentucky Athletic Directors Hall of Fame last year, said leaving the highly successful St. Henry cross country program was the hardest decision he ever had to make, especially with the top five runners from last year’s state championship team returning.
“I didn’t want to leave the program,” he said. “I was just looking for a teaching change and actually turned down a couple of other positions. When this one at Brossart came around, it was just the right fit at the right time.”
Harden also coached St. Henry girls’ track teams that won Class A state titles, but he stepped down from that position after the 2016 season to serve as assistant athletic director at the high school.
St. Henry hired Matt Ryan to fill the girls’ cross country coaching position. He’s a former distance runner for the Crusaders who now works as a financial advisor. With preseason practice beginning in a few days, no one has to tell Ryan that taking over a program that won 12 state titles in 15 years under the previous coach is a daunting task.
“I don’t try to think too much about that,” Ryan said. “I just want to be concentrating on training and making sure the girls are going to have a good time. You just put yourself in the best position you can and see what happens.”
Harden attended Brossart and he was an assistant coach there for five years before going to St. Henry and becoming a business teacher.
He’s returning to his former high school to teach freshman theology. He’ll also be an assistant coach for the Brossart girls’ cross country and track teams once again. The head coach of both of those teams is Dave Schuh, who was in charge the last time Harden was an assistant there.
“I think it’ll be nice to be an assistant and not have that pressure that I had the last couple of years (as head coach),” Harden said. “As weird as it may seem to some people, going from head coach back to being an assistant, I’m actually very excited, especially with the transition to teaching theology. I won’t have as much on my plate.”
Brossart and St. Henry are Class A rivals in cross country. Last season, St. Henry won the regional meet and Brossart placed second. One week later, the top three teams in the state meet were St. Henry, Lexington Christian and Brossart with a slim eight-point margin between first and third place.
Harden will be coaching against his former team this season, but a piece of his heart will always be with the St. Henry program.
“It was 15 of the greatest years of my life and to walk away from the program, it was hard,” he said. “The best thing I take away from St. Henry is the memories of the young ladies I tried to mold into better people and the relationships I had with the parents. Don’t get me wrong, the winning was nice, but when you look back it’s the relationships you built that mean more.”