Rash won eight (8) titles, including a couple of three peats from 2016-2018 and 2020-2022 before retiring
And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. [2] Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
Genesis 7, 1-2
The Holy Bible, King James Version
Similar to the Noah from the Bible, the story of Noel Rash and his coaching career is a central narrative around the KHSAA. Together with Bernie Barre and Mike Yeagle, these three coaches put together the legacy which has become Beechwood football. Nash won three consecutive titles in 2020-2022 then road off into the sunset. Rash said in the press release disseminated by the school that the “…time and stress involved in coaching football can take its toll…” Rash went on to tell us, “…I want to make wellness a priority in this next phase of my life.” So, Rash embarked on the next phase, leaving behind a program built for success on a foundation of principles and ethics which made it the envy of so many other programs. When we discuss programs which can play with anyone regardless of enrollment, we are talking about the Beechwood Tigers and some others we certainly can name. Much of this program’s continued prowess is attributable to the coach who steered the ship for 17-years.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”
Fort Mitchell, KY: I don’t take much time to proselytize in this digital magazine. That doesn’t mean I am not religious, but whether I am or not, it isn’t why you come here.
People read me to hear what I have to say about KHSAA football. People don’t much care for my opinion about religious or political matters. Therefore, I attempt to limit my commentary to matters on which I can speak with some authority.
That said, it is very likely Noel Rash, whose first name I thought was “Noah,” was obviously NOT named for the Noah from the Bible. The one from Noah and the Ark.
That fact aside, most “Noahs” around the world are named “Noah” in memory of “the great Noah.” The story of Noah is a central narrative in the Old Testament, found in Genesis 6-9.
The story tells of a world consumed by wickedness, prompting God to send a flood to cleanse the earth, while sparing Noah, his family, and representatives of every living creature in an ark. After the floodwaters receded, Noah made a sacrifice, and God established a covenant with Noah, symbolized by a rainbow, promising to never again destroy the world by a flood.
Interestingly enough, the story of there being a “great flood” doesn’t just belong to Christianity and Judaism. The Sumerian “Epic of Gilgamesh” may be the oldest flood story. It features a sage who is warned of an impending flood who builds an ark to save his family and himself. There was a Babylonian Flood Myth where the god, Ea, sends a flood to punish humanity but warns a guy named Utnaphishtim who builds an ark to save his family and himself.
In Greek Mythology, there is the story of Deucalion and Pyrrha. Zeus, angered by human wickedness, sends a flood to destroy the world. Deucalion is warned by his father, Prometheus, who then builds an ark to save both his wife and him.
There are numerous histories that recount a great flood, with estimates ranging from over 200 to 270 different stories from various cultures around the world. These flood stories often share striking similarities, suggesting a common origin or basis.
Noah, the one from the Bible and not the “Noel” from Fort Mitchell, were real; and both really good at what they were charged with doing
Friday Night Fletch
This strengthens my belief a world consuming flood occurred. This reinforces my belief that the Noah from the Bible is every bit as real and authentic as the Noel who led the program in Fort Mitchell.
As for Noel Rash, what he did coaching the Beechwood Tigers was not only real. It was really freaking awesome.
Rash led the Tigers for 17-seasons. Over that period of time, Rash won 200-games and eight (8) titles. I am not the best in math, but 200-wins in 17-seasons is close to 12-wins a year. It is 11.76 wins a year plus some change if we wanting to be closer to dead-on accurate.
Yeagle won eight (8) titles in 15-years or a title at the conclusion of 53% of the seasons he was at the helm. Rash won eight (8) titles in 17-years or a title at the conclusion of 47% of the seasons during which he was at the helm.
The two of them together won 16-titles in 32-seasons and I believe we all can solve that particular equation. Winning titles 50% of the time, over a 32-year period, is what we call a title winning machine.
Rash and Yeagle won 16-titles in 32-years between them
KHSAA Statistical Website
Rash joined the program as an assistant in 2000, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Rash took the reins of the program in 2006 along with the championship pedigree built by predecessors, Bernie Barre and Mike Yeagle.
When Rash stepped down, school officials in its official press release, praised Rash “…for placing a premium on developing young men and using football as a vehicle to instill life lessons that his players still implement well into adulthood.”
That is a key characteristic we have discovered covering the KHSAA greats in our “Slow Motion Replay” series. Developing young men while using football to teach and instill critical life lessons which former players use well into adulthood are ear-marks of programs headed up by all-time coaches all over the commonwealth.
“Coach Rash galvanized an entire community to rally around a special group of young people every fall during football season,” said Justin Kaiser, a 1998 Beechwood graduate and the current principal of Beechwood High School, in the school’s release. “Beechwood football is more than a program or individual, it is a culture of commitment, sacrifice, and brotherhood that Coach Rash inherited and enhanced in his time here. Combine that with an incredibly successful run as head coach, for mentoring our student-athletes the right way, and for representing Beechwood in a first-class manner on and off the field – you have a coach that ventures into legendary status.” We couldn’t agree more.
“There is nowhere quite like Beechwood,” Rash said in the same release. “The Friday nights are special, and so too is the community support of everything that goes on at school, both academically and with extracurricular activities. I am so humbled to have been part of such a special place. Beechwood is my home and without these players and families, we don’t accomplish any of this.”
This brings up an important point. Notice how Coach Rash made a special point to highlight the school’s and the community’s support.
Building a championship football program requires complete and total commitment. At the end of the day, the faculty, the administration, the district all have to pull in the same direction around Fort Mitchell, Kentucky for its football program to realize the tremendous success which has become a program trademark.
No school system, anywhere, is going to field a championship caliber football program unless the entire system, school, and community are completely committed. It is called “buy-in” and the great programs don’t struggle with it. The poor ones never quite achieve it.
Noel Rash knew how to get his school, his administrators, his superintendent, and his community to buy-in to what he was doing, what he was helping to build, helping to maintain. No wonder he was tired. No wonder Rash wanted to make his wellness a priority “…in the next phase…” of his life.
There really is no place quite like Beechwood as its former coaches all claim. Perhaps, that is why a man whose name sounds eerily similar to a biblical patriarch became the perfect person to steer the Fort Mitchell model of this particular ark.
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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