Jeff Hester had hip replacement surgery in December and retired recently from Boyle County High School but jumped at the chance to join the Centre College football coaching staff.
He was part of seven state championships and nine state final appearances under three different head coaches while he was the defensive coordinator at Boyle County High School, but Jeff Hester couldn’t say no to an opportunity to work with the Centre College football team in its 2021 spring season.
“I love coaching and being able to teach fundamentals and little things and see how these players (at Centre College) responded was fun,” said Hester.
He had a second hip replacement just a few days after Boyle’s state title win in December but when Centre head coach Andy Frye asked him about joining his staff during the spring season he quickly said yes.
“It got me up and going and doing things,” Hester said. “It was exciting. The players are just older but they are still trying to get the game plan. They are just trying to get ready for the real world at the same time they are playing football. The game still comes down to blocking and tackling. That has not changed in years and I thought I could help.
“But I also got to learn a lot about scheming defenses working with (Centre defensive coordinator) Carter Conley and the other coaches. I coached inside linebackers and picked up a lot of things myself. I may have got more out of it than the players did from me.”
Hester was vocal and animated on the Boyle County sidelines at games and practice. That hasn’t changed with the Colonels who are 1-2 after last week’s 18-17 overtime loss to Berry.
“You are you and how you coach. That is who I am. I tried to feel t things out but I am passionate for the game and teaching. That is how I always played and have always coached. You have to play the game with a lot of emotion and they do a great job of that here at Centre,” Hester said.
He’s got a chance to know former NFL head coach Les Steckel, another spring season assistant coach on Frye’s staff along with former Centre College President John Roush.
“Coach Steckel has such an interesting background and so much knowledge about people and football. He’s a great person and the players really like him,” Hester said. “Coach Roush is a great guy, too, and knows so much history. It was not intimidating at all to work with them. I have learned from them just like the players did.”
Hester said nothing really surprised him about Division III football because he knew what kind of program Frye had. Hester had almost spent a year as a graduate assistant coach at Union College 30 years ago and knew the same principles for practice and game preparation would apply at Centre just like they did at Boyle.
Would Hester consider a permanent spot on the Centre staff now that he’s officially retired at Boyle?
“I don’t know. I have not talked to coach Frye about anything like that. We talked about the spring and did not talk about anything else,” Hester, a 1983 Garrard County High School graduate, said. “I just know I have really enjoyed it and appreciated the opportunity to be part of this.”
Hester, who played college football at Morehead and started his high school coaching career at Garrard County in 1990, had been at Boyle for 20 years when he retired last month. He said he had been blessed and felt having his final season be the same season his youngest son, Jake, played his final year was the right time to call it quits.
“I was blessed at Boyle. I just felt it was time (to retire),” Hester, 55, said. “I love coaching in general and teaching the game because I think football is so great for young people with the life lessons it teaches and makes them more productive citizens because you learn to knock the dust off and get up.
“Winning state championships were great with my sons but my daughter also cheered and my wife was the cheer coach. The whole family was involved in state championships. Who wouldn’t love winning state championships or just getting to the final game.
“But I loved time with the coaches in the office and just being able to teach the game I love. It was a great run for me. I am not going to just sit still now but no matter what I do I will always love the opportunities I had to coach and that certainly includes getting to spend time at Centre College.”
