PLYMOUTH — Plymouth High School will have a new football coach on the sidelines for the 2023 season.
In a Friday morning post on its Facebook page, the school announced that John Gillum will be the new football coach pending board approval.
Gillum will replace Marc Genders, who was the longest-tenured coach in north central Ohio with 16 years at the helm of the Big Red Vikings.
This past season Plymouth finished 3-7 with a 1-5 record in the Firelands Conference. Despite opening with three consecutive road games, Genders’ squad started the season strong, winning three of its first four games, including a 41-7 Firelands Conference pounding of Monroeville. But the Big Red dropped six straight to close the campaign.
Plymouth qualified for the playoffs in the two previous years. It has not won a conference crown in football since 1983.
The school’s release is listed below in its entirety.
“Plymouth High School is excited to announce that pending board approval later this month, John Gillum has been named the new head football coach of the Big Red.
“Coach Gillum is a 2014 PHS graduate and played four years of football before attending The Ohio State University Mansfield and graduating in 2019 with his bachelor’s degree in education.
“Coach Gillum has spent a total of six seasons as a varsity assistant coach here at PHS with one year at Cardington-Lincoln High School as a varsity assistant sandwiched in between.
“He has also coached baseball and basketball in a variety of different positions. He currently teaches 5th grade math at Shiloh Middle School, while also being a member of the Ohio Air National Guard — as well as being a volunteer member of the Shiloh Fire Department.
“We are excited about the future of the Big Red football program under Coach Gillum’s leadership and we look forward to him getting started and carrying on the tradition of the Big Red football program.”
