‘Perfect storm’ brings new football coach to Bryan Station
Bryan Station has found its next head football coach and it’s one with Central Kentucky ties and a track record of building a winning program with a powerful offense.
Phil Hawkins, a Frankfort native who spent the past two years leading Apollo in Owensboro and four seasons prior as the head coach of Doss in Louisville, takes the reins of the Defenders program immediately, Hawkins and the school have announced.
“It’s exactly the kind of spot I was trying to find,” said Hawkins, who resigned from Apollo last month citing a desire to be closer to family in Central Kentucky. Hawkins graduated from Franklin County High School in 1987. “I was going to make a stab at trying to find something in Central Kentucky to sort of accommodate me being closer (to family) and give me a great opportunity to work with the program, and this just happened to be a perfect storm.”
While his overall mark as a head coach shows a 32-37 record, he improved Doss from 4-7 to 6-6 to 8-4 in his final three years there before jumping at a chance to take over Apollo.
Results at Apollo didn’t pan out in the win-loss column, per se, but the Eagles fielded one of the most potent rushing offenses in the state last season with 3,102 yards, led by junior Harold Hogg who racked up 214 rushing yards per game, tied for second best in the state.
“People would say that we’re a spread team, but would say we’re a spread team that likes to run it downhill, quite a bit too,” Hawkins said of his preferred style of offense, a pistol formation that gets the ball into the hands of his best play makers quickly. “Certainly, I’ll have some skill kids at Bryan Station and this (offense) gives me an opportunity to get the ball to as many people as we can, and still know that when the playoffs come, you’ve got to be able to run the football.”
Apollo threw the ball for nearly 1,300 yards, as well, and averaged more than 32 points per game with a team that had only nine seniors. It could have more than 17 seniors next year and Hawkins feels good about the shape they’ll be in. But the 4-7 Eagles struggled in 2019 defensively, a side of the game Hawkins plans to make a priority at Bryan Station.
“I’ve had a surprising number of people reach out to me about coaching (at Station),” Hawkins said about the few hours since he posted he was the Station coach Tuesday night. “I think there’s people out in the state that think or know I can turn that program around. That really makes me feel good to see that.”
Hawkins has coached at multiple high school All-American games and was the head coach of the 2010, 2011 and 2013 U.S. Army Youth All-American Game. As a middle school coach and high school assistant, he helped establish the Kentucky Youth Middle School Football Association and was its first hall of fame inductee in 2012.
“What impressed the interview committee most about Coach Hawkins is his commitment to engaging parents, alumni, and community members to build up the whole program,” said Bryan Station interim executive principal Ryan King in the announcement released Wednesday morning. “He is focused on developing the student-athlete and connecting them with opportunities post high school as we strive as a school to graduate all students career and college ready.”
Hawkins takes over a Bryan Station program that went 3-8 last year under Frank Parks, who was let go at season’s end after eight seasons in which they had some modest success but struggled mightily after redistricting created Frederick Douglass High School in 2017.
Douglass has emerged as the dominant public school football program in Lexington and hasn’t lost to a city foe in its three years. The Broncos reached the Class 5A championship in 2019. Bryan Station has gone 1-10, 2-9 and 3-8 in that span.
“I know there are some challenges, but those are the kind of challenges I look forward to. Certainly, you’ve got to give kids a reason to come and be successful and want to compete at Bryan Station,” Hawkins said. Obviously, as a head football coach in another part of the state, I was aware of the effects that Douglass had, but the way you battle that is you come in, you do the right thing, you get the kids excited, you start keeping the kids that belong to Bryan Station, and build from there. That’s really my plan.”
Hawkins was scheduled to meet his players Wednesday afternoon and a press conference and community introduction is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at the school.
“Kids will buy in with you if they know you love them and they know that you’ll go to work for them — it’s amazing what a kid will do,” Hawkins said. “I think sometimes we discount that as coaches. We get caught up in just winning right off the bat and we forget that the relationship part will take you to the wins. … That’s the environment I want to recreate (at Station) and see where it leads. I’m tickled about this opportunity.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 2:14 PM.
