IT’S A GWOC TREND: 8 of 20 football coaches in place 2 years or less
Replacing Greenon in the CBC is Jonathan Alder. Located at Plain City, about halfway between Springfield and Columbus in Madison County, Alder comes from the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference. Urbana switches places with Alder, returning to the Mad River Division after spending the 2016-17 school year in the Kenton Trail Division.
This comes after Tippecanoe and Stebbins left the CBC to join the Greater Western Ohio Conference in the fall of 2016. There might be more CBC additions in London (Mid-State League) and North Union (MOAC).
Revised CBC Kenton Trail Division: Bellefontaine, Jonathan Alder, Kenton Ridge, Shawnee and Tecumseh.
Revised CBC Mad River Division: Benjamin Logan, Graham, Indian Lake, Northwestern and Urbana.
New CBC football coaches: Shane Cahill (Graham), Shane Carter (Northwestern) and Carleton Cotner (Urbana).
GRAHAM: A bit of Mechanicsburg influence is always a good thing. That's what Graham is getting in Cahill, Mechanicsburg's defensive coordinator the last three playoff seasons. He succeeds A.J. Woods, who went 3-7 and 2-8 in his two seasons as the Falcons coach.
It’ll be the first head coach job for Cahill, a four-year letter winner at linebacker for Urbana University.
NEW FOOTBALL COACH: Graham names Cahill
“I’m incredibly excited to build a culture of accountability and leadership with the student athletes at Graham High School,” he said when hired.
Division: D-IV, Region 16.
Opener: Friday, Aug. 25 at West Liberty-Salem, 7 p.m.
NORTHWESTERN: Carter, previously a Troy assistant and football/basketball standout for the Trojans, succeeds Sam Johnson, who resigned after one season.
A Warriors reboot awaits Carter. Offensively challenged, Northwestern beat only Greenon in Week 10 last season.
NEW FOOTBALL COACH: Northwestern names Carter
“I’m 30 years old; I felt like I needed to test the waters now,” said Carter, who played football at Wisconsin. “When the opportunity at Northwestern came up, it seemed like a good fit for me. They’ve got some good football players over there. They’ve got some big kids there. I think I just need to put my staff together and get things rolling.”
Division: D-IV, Region 16.
Opener: Friday, Aug. 25 hosts Southeastern, 7 p.m.
URBANA: Cotner succeeds Jon Daniels, who was not retained after two seasons. Cotner was a Bellefontaine assistant the past three seasons and Ben Logan's head coach from 2007-13.
The Hillclimbers were an uncharacteristic 2-8 both seasons under Daniels. Urbana was 7-3 and won the CBC Mad River Division in 2014 under Nick Marino. That was the last of five consecutive seasons the Hillclimbers won seven or more games and qualified for the postseason three out of four years. Marino left to take over at Anna.
NEW FOOTBALL COACH: Urbana names Cotner
“Being in the league with them and knowing the football tradition they have there, the way the town is passionate about football, I’ve always been attracted to the program,” Cotner said after being approved as coach. “I always thought it would be a good opportunity if it opened up.”
Division: D-IV, Region 16.
Opener: Friday, Aug. 25 hosts London, 7 p.m.
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