Paul Jenne has logged a lot of miles in his high school football coaching career, both literally and figuratively.
In a span of 36 years, Jenne has worked at 10 programs around Ohio. That has included five head coaching appointments in which he has compiled an impressive record of 146-90.
In a decision to get closer to his roots, the Galion native is making the move from Cincinnati to Logan County to take over a Benjamin Logan program in need of a makeover.
Jenne was introduced as the Raiders’ new head coach during Monday’s board of education meeting.
“We are getting a coach that has produced a winning program in every school in which he has been employed,” said Ben Logan superintendent John Scheu in a press release.
Board president Mark Himmeger added that Jenne stood head and shoulders above other candidates.
Jenne shared with those in attendance Monday his desire to return to the small-town setting in which he was raised. He is a product of Northmor High School.
His coaching career began as part of the staff at Midpark High School in Middleburg Heights in 1986.
He then spent one season as an assistant coach at United Local in Hanoverton before settling in central Ohio.
Jenne arrived at Marysville in 1988 and was offensive coordinator, running backs coach and quarterbacks coach during a four-year stretch for the Monarchs. He helped coach the 1991 squad to a Division II state semifinal berth.
Jenne became a head coach for the first time in 1992 at Jonathan Alder in Plain City. He was named a league coach of the year three times in his six years with the Pioneers. He was the Division IV state coach of the year in 1993.
Jenne led the Pioneers to two playoff berths and one of his players, Donnie Nickey, went on to play at Ohio State and in the NFL.
In 1998, Jenne took over at Xenia High School. In a program that had not enjoyed a winning season in 10 years, he led the squad to an 8-2 record in his second season.
Xenia won two league titles and had a record of 38-22 during the six seasons Jenne was the head coach there.
From Xenia, Jenne headed back toward the Columbus area, landing as the head coach at Hilliard Darby.
Darby was 0-10 the season before Jenne arrived, but he compiled a record of 26-17 in four years as the head coach. His 2007 Darby team went 11-2, won a league title and made the state playoffs.
Jenne coached a pair of future NFL players, Jeremy Ebert and Taylor Price, while at Darby.
His next stop came in the southwest part of the state as head coach at Western Hills High School in Cincinnati.
He spent five seasons as head coach there, reviving a program that had fallen on hard times. In his second season, Western Hills went 7-3 for its first winning campaign in 10 years. The team won a league title in 2011.
Jenne would later leave Western Hills for Norwood High School, also located in the Cincinnati area. He was the head coach there for two seasons, leading his first squad to a 5-5 mark and his second team to 8-2 record.
After leaving Norwood in 2016, he began a five-year stint as the offensive coordinator at Cincinnati Indian Hill. From 2018-20, his offenses averaged over 42 points per game and Indian Hill made it to at least the second round of the playoffs in each of those three seasons.
Jenne spent this past year at Division I power Elder as the tight ends coach and kickers coach.
At Ben Logan, Jenne will replace Jeff Fay, who stepped down after last season, his ninth as head coach, to devote more of his focus to his position as assistant high school principal.
The Raiders are coming off a 4-6 2022 campaign and have not had a winning season since 2017.
Jenne will have his hands full in the fall as the Raiders will have to replace a big group of departing seniors. Ben Logan had eight players receive all-Central Buckeye Conference honors last fall and all eight will be lost to graduation.
Jenne and his Raiders will have the benefit of some new digs as the athletic department is in the process of renovating the football stadium, a process that will include the installation of a new turf field.
