LEXINGTON — Andrew Saris experienced the Ohio school football playoffs as a player at Smithville. He experienced them as an assistant coach at Madison.
The 34-year-old hopes to next enjoy them as the head coach at Lexington.
Saris, who will finish this season as the head track coach for the Rams, was unanimously approved by the Lexington school board Wednesday evening.
An energetic former sprinter and jumper at Walsh University, Saris said he is excited about the opportunity to lead the Minutemen football program — and also step into an administrative role as the high school dean of students.
The son of two long-time educators, Saris played football for his father at Smithville, competing in the Division V state title game as a sophomore and in the state semifinals as a senior.
“I was born and raised on small-school football,” said Saris, a 6-foot, 175-pound first-team All-Ohio defensive back for the Smithies, competing in the football-rich Wayne County Athletic League.
He loved playing under the Friday night lights in the community of about 1,250 residents.
“I grew up around it and I loved it. Cowbells. Cornfields. I was a ball boy for my dad’s teams when I was growing up,” he said.
One of his memories as a youngster was accompanying his dad’s team to Madison for a playoff game at a neutral site.
“I remember me and my buddy, we were kicking field goals on that field before the game. I always feel like you never know in life when you’re going to come full circle because 10 years later I was teaching and coaching kids on that field,” Saris said.
It’s clear the teaching aspect of coaching appeals to Saris, who has produced Ohio Cardinal Conference champion girls’ track teams at Madison and star football players like Tyrell Ajian, slated to start his senior season as a DB at the University of Kentucky this fall.
“I grew up in an environment that was conducive to coaching, to teaching, to educating, to leadership. I remember writing papers when I was a kid about what I wanted to do when I grew up.
“For me, it was I wanted to be a teacher and a coach,” said Saris, who has taught science at Madison since 2011.
“I am leaving a place that has truly been great for me,” Saris said. “But I have been given such a blessed opportunity in an administrative role and in a head football coaching role to share leadership in a different way.”
His teams will have “multiple looks” on both sides of the ball this fall. But Saris makes it clear defense is his first love, inheriting a team that went 4-7 in 2021, losing in the first round of the playoffs under Taylor Gerhardt.
“How we line up on the field is going to be strictly dependent on what will get the most out of the athletes we have. (But) having a strong defense is very important to me.
“I have a passion for an aggressive, strong defense being something we can hang our hats on. Hard-nosed. Relentless. That’s what we’re going to have to have here at this football program,” Saris said.
Saris was an assistant at Madison for head coach Sean Conway, now the Rams’ high school principal. He also worked with coach Jamie Masi, who is now the principal at Lexington.
“Coach Conway was a huge role model of mine. He knew my father through the coaching scene and I was fortunate to come back in contact with him at Madison.
“Coach Masi was the defensive coordinator of the varsity team at Madison when I started there. At the time I was young and fresh and all I wanted to do was learn.
“I didn’t know anyone in Richland County when I came to Madison. But I came across a great group of men who showed me how to be an educator, how to be a coach and how to be a father,” Saris said.
Saris married his wife, Erin, in 2018, and they have two children — Henry, 2, and 5-month-old Mia. He took a step back from football after his marriage and the start of his family, working with the Madison freshmen team while still leading the track program.
He said he and his family are now ready for this next step.
“I have really grown to love sharing leadership, positive leadership … showing kids through experience and through opportunities that you can get the most out of life.
“That’s why I’m ready to take over with this role. I think it gives me an opportunity to be involved with so many kids in many different ways and to share my passion and share my love for these things,” he said.
His passion for the Madison track team will carry through the end of this season.
“I will defend these (Madison) kids and I am committed to them through the end of this season. But as soon as this track season and school year are over, that commitment, that defending, that man they walk behind, now has to move on to Lexington.”
