North Oldham has found a coach to continue the rebuild of its football program.
The school named Brock Roberts its head coach on March 10 following the resignation of former coach Jamie Brown.
“I’m very excited. I think this program has a lot of potential,” Roberts said. “The administration and I share a lot of similar goals and aspirations as far as taking this program to newer heights. North is a special place – they’re very successful at almost every other sport, so my goal is to bring football back up to what it was back in the day.”
This will be Roberts’ second stint as a head coach after he led Eminence’s program to a 13-10 record in 2019-20 before moving on to serve as an assistant at Collins the last two seasons.
“I was fairly young when I was a head coach at Eminence, but I think that I learned a lot more off the field than on the field with how to handle situations as they arise, like with parents or things of that nature,” Roberts said. “One thing I’ll tell my staff that I learned and believe in is to stick to your guns. If you believe that it’s right, don’t shy away from it and let people get to your head.”
After eight straight years of four or fewer wins, North Oldham won five games last season, including its first postseason win since 2014.
With the program’s numbers still on the rise and its facilities currently under a significant improvement project, Roberts is confident that the team will hit the ground running.
“Coach Brown has done an amazing job getting this program back on the right track as far as numbers and culture,” Roberts said. “That kind of makes it easier for me to walk in. There’s not a lot that needs to be cleaned up – it’s more just trying to build off the success he had.”
Roberts inherits a senior class expected to be in the ballpark of 20 players, including offensive and defensive cornerstones in quarterback Jace Bullock and linebacker Noah Leber.
“That’s a great core to start with because they already know the standards, they work hard and they bring back a lot of production from last year’s team,” Roberts said. “Having a senior quarterback coming in was definitely a selling point for me. He knows the standards, he’s a smart kid, he’s a great athlete, he’s a great athlete and he’s a leader. Then you return a guy like Noah Leber that had 144 tackles last year. Anytime, you have an anchor on the offense and an anchor on the defense, it makes it easier.”
The Mustangs’ experience, coupled with its transition to a new district, has Roberts confident that the team can compete for its first title since 2014 next season.
“I don’t think it’s far-fetched to say that we can come in and compete for a district championship in year one,” Roberts said. “The district is definitely beatable. It’s a tough one, but we can compete.”