High School Football Coach of the Week 2023 | Cincinnati Bengals - bengals.com

The Cincinnati Bengals Coach of the Week presented by Paycor awards outstanding high school football coaches for their hard work and dedication, as well as their success on the field and in the community. Currently in its 23rd year, the Cincinnati Bengals High School Coach of the Week program has awarded over $250,000 to high school football programs throughout the Tri-State. This season's program will award $20,000 to aid in the development and promotion of high school football across the Tri-State, thanks to contributions from the Cincinnati Bengals, the NFL Foundation and Paycor.

Coach Stewart is in his 23rd year of coaching and his 6th year as Head Coach at Madeira High School. He has led the Mustangs to a record of 41 wins and 26 losses during his tenure while guiding the Mustangs to 6 straight playoff appearances. Coach Stewart helped Madeira win their first ever playoff game in school history in 2020 since the program began in 1957. In 2021 he led the Mustangs to the most wins in school history in a single season with 11 while also winning 2 playoff games in one season which is also a school record. Coach Stewart has created a culture at Madeira that extends beyond the game of football as the vision for the Madeira Football program is to "Create leaders of men through the game of football.".

Bryce Hodge just finished his fifth season as head coach at his alma mater, Riverside High School, in DeGraff, Ohio. After serving as an assistant coach at Riverside for four seasons, Coach Hodge took over the program in 2019. He has since led the Pirates to 4 straight seasons of 8 wins or more, 4 playoff appearances, 5 playoff wins, and a league championship. Under Coach Hodge's leadership, the Pirates finished the 2023 season 9-2, winning their first ever Three Rivers Conference title, which is the 7th football league championship in school history. Coach Hodge was awarded TRC Co-Coach of the year for 2023 and was also awarded the DVII Southwest District Coach of the year in 2020. Bryce is married to his wife, Katie, and they have two daughters, Scarlet and Willow, and are expecting a son in March, 2024. Coach Hodge also serves Riverside as the elementary principal.

Coach Matt King is finishing up his second season as the head coach at Valley View High School, where he has led the Spartans to a current record of 25-3 in the last two seasons. After graduating from DeGraff Riverside (HS) in 2006, Coach King went on to play at Defiance College. Coach King began his teaching and coaching career at Bellefontaine HS where he spent 5 years teaching math and coaching. In 2015, Coach King moved to Valley View where he spent 7 years as an assistant, coaching special teams, linebackers, and serving as the strength and conditioning coordinator. Taking over as the head coach in 2022, Coach King has energized the storied Valley View football program leading them to a league championship and a regional championship in 2022 and has his Spartans back in the regional championship once again in 2023. Coach King and his wife, Kathleen, have 4 children: Lillian, Asher, Isaac, and Walker.

Bob Sphire is in his 3rd season leading the Fort Thomas Highlands Bluebirds, where they are currently on a quest to win a state championship. He has re-energized the program that had only a 2 win season before his arrival, to now winning 22 of their last 24 games. They have spent most of this season ranked at or near the top of their classification in Ky, and they have been back-to-back District Champions in Northern Ky.

Listed are some career totals and highlights:

331 Wins; 123 Losses

305-113 record as a High School Coach (172-65 in Ky; 133-48 in Georgia)

26-9 record as a Professional Indoor Football Coach (Lexington Horsemen)

One of the 10 fastest coaches to 100 wins in Georgia

Coached in 4 Championship games, winning 2 of those.

Started and established the program at Lexington Catholic HS.

He is proud to have coached DJ Turner and CJ Uzomah while at North Gwinnett HS in Suwanee, Ga.

Jon Elliot has been coaching for 38 years. This is his third year as a head coach and second at LaBrae High School. He has been a part of numerous league championships, and a couple OHSAA Regional Championships. After a 1-9 season last year, with only 2 returning starters, Elliot was able to put together a more experienced staff and adjust his offensive and defensive systems to better suit his team's skill set. As a result, they went 5-5 with an OHSAA playoff appearance. The coaches emphasize "Family" and "Good Character" to their players as traits they should always possess. They strive for a "great work ethic" and relentless "never quit" attitude. They teach their players to be responsible and accountable for their actions. These are characteristics they want their players to possess now and later in life, to be model citizens as young adults, spouses and parents. Coach Elliot lives in Northeast Ohio with his beautiful wife Nikki and 4 wonderful children Jonny, Ainsley, Ava and Nikalo.

A native Cincinnatian, Armand is an alum of Walnut Hills HS. Armand just completed his second season at Finneytown High School and his 21st year coaching football. There has been noticeable change within the football program both on and off the field at Finneytown. Coach Tatum believes in legacy coaching and building future husbands and fathers through the game of football. This season Finneytown won its first conference game in nine years.

Coach Ben Johnson is in his third season as the head coach of the Waynesville Spartans. This season Coach Johnson led the Spartans to the Southwestern Buckeye League title and the longest playoff run in school history. He was also named the 2023 Southwestern Buckeye League and Southwest District Division V Coach of the Year. He coaches alongside his brother, Sam Johnson, who is the Spartan's Defensive Coordinator. Prior to coaching at Waynesville High School, Coach Johnson was the head coach at Portsmouth West High School. He started his coaching career as the Offensive Coordinator at Liberty Union High School under his father, Ohio Hall of Fame Coach, Dan Johnson. Prior to coaching, Ben played football at Capital University and Liberty Union High School. It is Coach Johnson's mission to use football as a platform to shape boys into men who will someday become good husbands, fathers, employees and members of society. Ben is also a math teacher at Waynesville High School. He and his wife Brittany have a daughter on the way.

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio and a graduate of Elder High School, Coach Volker played locally at Thomas More College where he served as a 3-year captain. Jay's coaching career began at Georgia State University where he learned under current Michigan Defensive Coordinator, Jesse Minter, and current Naval Academy Defensive Coordinator, PJ Volker. After his time at Georgia State, he was named Associate Head Coach at La Salle High School where the team won two division 2 state championships. This is Coach Volker's first year at Beechwood High School where he has led the program to a 12-1 record and an appearance in the state semi-finals. Offensively Beechwood is averaging 48.6 points per game and only allowing 14.4. As a program Beechwood and Coach Volker push each individual to become the best version of themselves both on and off the field. Coach Volker and his wife, Erika, have an 11 month older daughter, MacKenzie.

Kyle Hogan was born in Riverside, California, is the father of 2 (Khloe and Lukas) and played football for coach Jeff Marksberry at Simon Kenton High School before playing his college ball at Union College for coach Tommy Reid and he is graduating with his Master Degree in Sports Administration from the University of Cincinnati on December 8th, 2023. Coach Hogan just completed his 16th year as a high school football coach with stints at Pendleton County, Indian Hill, & Little Miami as an assistant coach & just finished his 3rd season as the head coach at St. Bernard-Elmwood Place high school. In his 3rd season as the SBEP Titans head coach, he led the Titans to an 8-3 record, which broke the record for most wins in a single season. That was only the first of 28 new schools records the Titans would set in 2023 including their week 9, 55-0 win over New Miami high school, that moved Coach Hogan to the top of the record books as the All-Time winningest football coach in St. Bernard-Elmwood Place high school history.

Coach Hall graduated from Ansonia in 2010 where he played High school football for legendary coach Eugene Hoening. He Graduated from Defiance college in 2014 where he played football for four years. Coach Hall just completed his tenth season coaching (6 as an assistant at Ansonia, 2 as head coach at Tri- County North, and 2 as Head Coach at Ansonia) In two seasons with Ansonia, the Tigers have been back to back WOAC Champions going 24-3 in two years and finishing as Region 28 Runners up in 2023.