Steve Olds has been waiting for this day for a long time.
“Honestly, I’ve been expressing an interest in being the head coach here since I was a kid,” said Olds, an ECHS graduate.
Olds was officially hired during Tuesday night’s meeting of the East Clinton Local Schools Board of Education.
EC athletic director Jim Marsh said he is “extremely excited about the hiring of Steve Olds. Steve has an effective way of communicating with all students at East Clinton not just the athletes. I believe coach Olds has an understanding of the pulse of our community and that will allow for the buy-in, to the changes in culture that is needed in our program, buildings and community. Coach Olds is unique in that he is a mixture of old school and new school philosophy and has an outstanding comprehension of the game of football.”
Olds has been an assistant at East Clinton for three years. He was hired by then head coach Jeremy Yankey, who resigned prior to week eight this past season. Mark Scovanner took over the program on an interim basis with Olds on the staff.
“This is my dream job,” said Olds. “So when the job opened up during the season, I made my intentions known immediately.”
In all, Olds has been an assistant coach for 13 seasons, adding stints at Kings and Hillsboro to his resume. Now, he is in charge.
“It comes with a brand new set of responsibilities and expectations,” he said. “A lot of people (gave) me their support when I applied for the job and I feel a great personal responsibility to them, to this community, to this school, and to these players to get this right. The support I have received throughout this process meant a great deal to me and my family and I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to lead the program that means so much to me.
“I want to thank everybody who offered their love and support. I owe them a great deal of gratitude. The East Clinton community helped make me who I am today. I had great parents, great teachers and great coaches who were even better people. I want the same thing for the students at East Clinton today. And I look forward to being a part of that for years to come.”
East Clinton has won 14 games in the past seven seasons. Prior to that, the Astros were extremely competitive. East Clinton made five trips to the playoffs in a nine-year span and had nine winning seasons out of 12 years. That seems like so long ago now.
”We are going to start, first and foremost, with trying to effect positive change in our culture within the football program,” said Olds. “We have to be more accountable and our older guys have to set better examples for our young guys to follow. They have to be willing to do the work that is required of them, both in the weight room and in the classroom, if we are to turn this thing around. I intend to focus on getting our numbers back up, as it would help tremendously if we could get up closer to 40 boys out this year. I also believe it is important that our program be connected at every level, from the high school team to the youth team. Now, it’s going to be hard work, but those who are willing to put the time in and do things the right way are going to have a chance to be a part of something special.“
