Mark Nelson named head football coach at Warren Central.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

DRAGON ATHLETICS

Warren Central Dragons
Head Football Coach
Press Release
03.16.21

Warren Central is proud to announce the hiring of Mark Nelson to the position of Head Coach of the WCHS Football Program. Coach Nelson comes to us with a career full of success in Warren County, the state of Kentucky, as well as the state of Tennessee.

In 2001, he took over as Head Coach at Greenwood. Steadily, they improved in numbers and wins during his tenure. In his final season in 2009, the team advanced to the KHSAA State Semifinals. After nine seasons as the Head Coach of Greenwood, he was chosen to start the football program at South Warren High School. During the school's first year, they competed only as a JV team in order to build from the ground up. While there, in only 3 seasons of varsity football, South Warren played in two regional finals under his leadership. Since 2014, he has been an assistant coach at Portland High School in Tennessee.
 

The selection process was a very interesting process full of very qualified applicants. The committee was thankful for the time that each of the applicants spent preparing for the applications and interviews. With that being said, we look forward to the future of Warren Central Football and the direction Coach Nelson has for our young men. His passion for the student-athletes and the game of football are obvious. We cannot wait for the community to become more involved with our program and the school in the coming days and weeks. We would like to welcome Coach Nelson, his wife Melissa, and his daughter Kinsey to the Dragon Family! 

[Tkinslow]

Seems like a good hire I hope he brings them back to prominence.

[LongTimeReader]

That’s a really good hire for Warren Central. As long as expectations are realistic he could do a good job there. 

[Purple88]

Good Luck Dragons!  I hope you break the streak next season!

[New Heights]

Great hire by Warren Central. This will bring the program some stability for the time being. 
 

His coaching staff includes former Portland (TN) head coach Greg Cavanah, Walter York, Burt Stinson and former Warren Central coach Joe Hood – the man the field is named after.

While this staff brings over 100 years of  experience combined, how well will they connect with the youth and the population of the kids that they’re  coaching. Warren Central is a predominantly minority school. The coaches listed may be in their early 60s with the oldest being in his 70s.
 

This is a new age of football. The age gap and the ability to relate to the young people is something to take into consideration.

I will be more than interested to see who else they will add to their staff and if they will bring in young coaches that can relate to the youth that they’re coaching. 
 

This staff will work for the short term, but they will need to start grooming the next young man to sustain true stability for the long term. Good luck Dragons!

[theguru]

14 minutes ago, New Heights said:

Great hire by Warren Central. This will bring the program some stability for the time being. 
 

His coaching staff includes former Portland (TN) head coach Greg Cavanah, Walter York, Burt Stinson and former Warren Central coach Joe Hood – the man the field is named after.

While this staff brings over 100 years of  experience combined, how well will they connect with the youth and the population of the kids that they’re  coaching. Warren Central is a predominantly minority school. The coaches listed may be in their early 60s with the oldest being in his 70s.
 

This is a new age of football. The age gap and the ability to relate to the young people is something to take into consideration.

I will be more than interested to see who else they will add to their staff and if they will bring in young coaches that can relate to the youth that they’re coaching. 
 

This staff will work for the short term, but they will need to start grooming the next young man to sustain true stability for the long term. Good luck Dragons!

Thank you @New Heights, please post more!

[DragonFire]

1 hour ago, New Heights said:

Great hire by Warren Central. This will bring the program some stability for the time being. 
 

His coaching staff includes former Portland (TN) head coach Greg Cavanah, Walter York, Burt Stinson and former Warren Central coach Joe Hood – the man the field is named after.

While this staff brings over 100 years of  experience combined, how well will they connect with the youth and the population of the kids that they’re  coaching. Warren Central is a predominantly minority school. The coaches listed may be in their early 60s with the oldest being in his 70s.
 

This is a new age of football. The age gap and the ability to relate to the young people is something to take into consideration.

I will be more than interested to see who else they will add to their staff and if they will bring in young coaches that can relate to the youth that they’re coaching. 
 

This staff will work for the short term, but they will need to start grooming the next young man to sustain true stability for the long term. Good luck Dragons!

This reflects a lot of my feelings, particularly the final statement.  The people I have talked to about the hire, I have noted that it is my hope that the next coach will be on the staff they assemble.  That is how it worked at both of Coach Nelson's stops at Greenwood and South Warren.  In this case, my hope is that it is a younger coach that they are grooming into the role.  That is something that will give a best of all worlds approach to this hire and this staff.  You've got tremendous coaching experience, let a potential future guy learn under them, learn from them, and thereby you will also achieve my other major goal of longevity and stability in the program.  The head coach isn't the only factor in stability, it is also consistency in your staff.  Central has had none of it, and that has to be a major decision making factor for this to work.  And I'm not saying the next guy has to be Tyreon Clark, but I certainly would make it a major, major initiative to keep him involved.  Other coaches who can help bridge the generation gap is critical as well to me. The best news of course, is that none of this is new to Coach Nelson.  He helped lay the foundation for South Warren's program, and added Brandon Smith to his staff there, which obviously had huge benefits for the Spartans.  He had aspects of program building at Greenwood as well.  He brings experience in all facets.  I'm looking forward to his influence in the next scheduling window (I wish he'd have been soon enough to work on this one though it still improved).  I'm entirely thrilled about the hire - now it's time to make something of it!

[Coach Preston]

Great group of men to work with the kids at WC. Improvement will happen in my opinion. 

[WKY_Football]

Wow that’s a coaching staff that has experienced all you can on a high school level. Good luck to the Dragons!!