LEXINGTON — Taylor Gerhardt never expected to be stepping down as Lexington’s football coach, just a year into his second tour of duty.
But life sometimes has other plans.
Citing the need to strike a more sustainable balance between family and work, Gerhardt has announced he would not return to the sidelines this fall.
“I planned on being there for a while,” said Gerhardt, the principal at Lexington Junior High School.
“Some things inside the family changed and being the leader of my family, being the leader of a school and being the leader of a football program, with those changes something had to give.
“Right now, some people in my family need me more and I needed to dedicate more time to that.”
Gerhardt coached Lexington from 2014 to 2018, compiling a slightly deceiving 24-31 record — the Minutemen were 0-10 in his first season and 24-21 in his final four campaigns. He piloted Lex to the regional championship game in 2016 and the second round of the playoffs in 2018.
After a two-year hiatus, Gerhardt was re-hired in December of 2020 to replace Tim Scheid. Gerhardt led Lexington back to the expanded-format postseason last fall. The Minutemen were 4-6 during the regular season and qualified as the No. 13 seed in Region 10 playoffs.
Before Gerhardt took over, Lexington had qualified for the playoffs only three times in program history — in 2001 under Dave Kaple and in 2007 and 2008 under B.J. Payne.
“Growing up, my dad (Dan) always told my brother (Ben) and I, ‘If you do something, when you take it up you leave it better than you found it.’ That’s always been the goal in whatever I’ve done. I believe my staff and the kids worked hard and got back to what Lexington wants to be and should be.”
While there are certain aspects of the job he won’t miss, Gerhardt said the bonds forged between coach and players and assistants make stepping away difficult.
“I will miss it. I’ll miss those kids and my coaching staff was just great, but I just can’t give the time that the kids and the program deserve,” Gerhardt said. “I knew this past holiday season that I wasn’t going to be able to give the time.
“I talked with the people I love and made a decision and now that it’s out there, I am at peace with it. I feel like I made the right decision.”
