Final-minute touchdown by Southwestern drops East, 37-30

Comment by Watchdog: Friday, September 10

I knew it - East Jessamine always were Colts at heart!...read more...

Final-minute touchdown by Southwestern drops East, 37-30

Comment by zerovic: Thursday, September 9

Kind of looks like Mr. Stark had gotten bored reporting about East Jessamine in the third to last pa...read more...

Two candidates eyeing Jessamine County clerk seat

Comment by jjhle6: Thursday, September 9

Finally someone else running against her! Joseph Hagen, you have my vote and my support for your cam...read more...

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At first glance, the West Jessamine football head coaching job might not look like an appetizing position. Afterall, three coaches in four years and just 13 wins over that span, doesn’t exactly attract a lot of suitors.

But the school won 12 of those over the last two years and experienced a historic 9-3 season last year that included a playoff win and a seven-game winning streak to start the year.

A major part of that turnaround can be attributed to former Coach Randy Wood, who stepped down last fall after two seasons. To replace him, West Jessamine has hired Woodford County assistant Graham Heasley.

Heasley graduated from Jessamine County in 1979 where he played football and baseball. He continued both careers at Kenron College in Gambrier, Ohio. For the last 17 years, he has been an assistant at Woodford.

He said his goal and dream has been to coach at Jessamine County.

The other openings in the position didn’t work out for him.

“Prevously when its come open, (I applied) one time and I didn’t get the job,” he said. “The other time it was just not right for me professionally and family-wise and this time it was. I was thrilled to have the opportunity.”

Heasley believes his experience makes him a perfect fit for West, who has struggled to field a competitive football program in recent years.

“I feel like I’ve had the opportunity to rebuild the Woodford program a couple times,” he said. “Once when I first got here (1993), we only had about 20 kids on the varsity and junior varsity squad. Over the next few years we built that up to about as high as 70.”

After a head coaching change and a move up to AAAA, Woodford struggled again. Heasley would watch the program hit rock bottom again seven years before Chris Tracy took over the program.

“With Chris, the things I really picked up was not just building but building for the long term,” Heasley said. “I think we’ve got Woodford now where they won’t have that bottoming out anymore that we used to get. We’d have a good season, seniors would graduate and we’d just hit rock bottom again and I don’t see that. I see it being a much more consistent program now.”

And there is where he hopes to steer the West program. But he understands he has more than just the challenge of building a consistent program. The Colts still have to face perennial state powers Boyle County and Lexington Catholic every year.

“That’s going to be fun,” Heasley said. “You watch Boyle County play and they don’t have that superstar athlete they had a few years ago when Chuck Smith was there. They’ve got some good solid kids who play with a lot of heart and a lot of discipline and a lot of gumption and they beat you that way. The idea is to build our kids to have that same kind of heart Boyle County has. If we can do that I believe we can compete with them.”

And the effort of trying to get past superpowers is nothing new for Heasley. The Yellowjackets regularly ran into Johnson Central in the semifinals.

“And we were staring at Highlands if we managed to get past them, so I’m used to have that,” Heasley said.

Heasley plans to retain defensive coordinator Yancey Marcum from the previous staff.

“I’ve seen him work for a few years and have admired what he’s done,” Heasley said. “I love surrounding myself with guys who have a passion for the school where they are. Yancy certainly does that for West. He lives, eats and breathes this stuff.”

That will free up Heasley to concentrate on offense, where his most recent experience has come with the spread offense. But don’t think the triple-option is gone from West Jessamine just yet.

“I want to try to marry some elements of (the spread) with what Randy ran last year,” Heasley said. “I think it will lend itself to a very difficult team to stop. They were phenomenally successful offensively last year and with the two trigger guys back fo rthat offense — I’m looking at 2,400 yards of offense coming back in two players and for a lot of teams that’s a season.”

Heasley lives in Lexington with his wife, Diana Jones, and their four daughters, Kalyn, Karli, Emily and Riley.

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