LEXINGTON — Most of his assistant coaching career was spent on the defensive side of the ball, but new Lexington head coach Taylor Gerhardt isn’t about to limit himself.
“A lot of time you will hear a coach say, ‘I’m a defensive guy,’ or ‘I’m an offensive guy,’ ” Gerhardt said Tuesday evening. “As a head coach, you can’t choose just one.
“You have to be all-fensive.”
A 1989 Malabar High School graduate, Gerhardt was introduced as Lexington’s new coach Tuesday morning. He succeeds Dan Studer, who stepped down after leading the Minutemen to a 6-14 record in two seasons.
“We had about 65 applicants and we narrowed it down to two in-house candidates fairly quickly,” Lexington athletic director Joe Roberts said. “Taylor’s enthusiasm and passion for football stood out early.”
The 43-year-old Gerhardt is the principal at Lexington Junior High. He was an assistant coach on Studer’s staff the past two years. He also had coaching stops at Lima Bath and Mansfield Senior, where he was on longtime coach Stan Jefferson’s staff for five seasons.
“I started coaching football and teaching, but there came a time when I had to make a decision whether I was going to move around and chase head coaching jobs or pursue administration,” Gerhardt said. “I decided on administration, but becoming a head football coach was always on my bucket list.
“I’m fortunate that the Lexington school board and the superintendent and principal and the athletic director were willing to give me this opportunity.”
With just 17 returning lettermen on a 47-man roster, Lexington was forced to play several freshman and sophomores last fall. The Minutemen were 1-9 overall and 0-7 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference.
Getting players excited to play football is Gerhardt’s primary concern.
“I want to bring the passion back,” he said. “There is a lot of history and a lot of tradition at Lexington.
“One of my goals is to get the kids excited about playing under the lights on Friday nights. To me, there is nothing more exciting than that.”
Gerhardt’s first order of business is assembling his staff. Studer will continue to orchestrate Lexington’s strength and conditioning program.
“He’s going to help out as much as his schedule allows,” Gerhardt said. “We are glad to have him. Nobody knows more about strength and conditioning than him.”
As far as offensive and defensive schemes go, Gerhardt hasn’t made any decisions yet.
“I’ve always believed that, as a coach, you’ve got to be flexible,” Gerhardt said. “Especially at the high school level. College coaches can recruit for the schemes they run, but high school coaches have to be able to adapt to their personnel.
“We are going to play to our talents.”
Lexington has a wealth of talented young players. They took their lumps last fall.
“We played a lot of young guys out of necessity,” Gerhardt said. “I’m proud of the way they stepped up when they were asked to do something that most 14-year-old boys never dream they will be asked to do, and that is go against juniors and seniors.
“I was proud of their tenacity and the way some of our older kids took it upon themselves to show the younger kids what was expected of them.”
Lexington will open its 2014 season Aug. 29 at home against Richland County rival Ontario.
“I might not be able to tell you a lot about the X’s and O’s yet, but I can assure you we are going to play hard and we are going to play fast,” Gerhardt said. “We’re going to bring the pride back to Lexington football.”
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
