Beechwood will introduce Jay Voelker as new head coach of football team during ceremony on Monday


By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

The Beechwood High School football program will begin a new era Monday when Jay Volker is officially introduced as the new head coach of the Tigers during a 3:30 p.m. ceremony in the school cafeteria.

Voelker was head coach at Talawanda High School in Ohio the last two years. His teams finished 1-9 last season and 2-7 in 2021, according to the Southwest Ohio Conference website.

Jay Volker

He was an assistant coach at Kings, Moeller and La Salle high schools in Ohio before beginning his head coaching career. La Salle won the back-to-back Ohio Division II state championships while he was on the staff.

“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,” Voelker said in a media release from Beechwood.

“You look back at nearly fifty 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.”

Voelker was hired to replace Noel Rash, who resigned as Beechwood’s head coach after 17 seasons. His teams compiled a 193-46 record and won eight state championships on the Class 1A and Class 2A levels.

The Tigers also won nine Class 1A state championships under former head coaches Mike Yeagle and Bernie Barre before Rash took charge of the program.

“Jay is a great leader of men. He’s a relentless worker and a coach that will carry on the winning tradition at Beechwood,” said Jim Hilvert, who had Voelker on his staff when he was head coach at La Salle.

According to the media release, Voelker laid out “an ambitious and attainable vision for every facet of the Beechwood football program” during the interview process.

“What resonated most was his passion to grow our student athletes into men through a brotherhood you can only find at Beechwood,” said principal Justin Kaiser.

Volker played football at Elder High School and Thomas More University. He received a bachelor’s degree in biology at TMU and earned a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from the American College of Education.

He will be taking over a Beechwood team that won its third straight Class 2A state championship last season with mostly underclassmen in the offensive lineup, including quarterback Clay Hayden, running back Chase Flaherty and linemen Xavier Campbell, Nick Alexander and Jack Meier.


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