Jay hires Millspaugh

Tim Millspaugh has spent 10 years walking the Patriot sidelines as an assistant. Now he’s the man in charge.
Millspaugh, the long-time defensive coordinator, was hired Monday to be Jay County High School’s next football coach.
Jay School Board voted unanimously to give Millspaugh the job, acting on recommendations from former coach and future athletics director Steve Boozier and Superintendent Tim Long.
“Tim Millspaugh is a great young man,” said Long. “He’s worked hard. The kids love him. And I think the people love him in Jay County. I whole-heartedly recommend him as the next football coach.”
Millspaugh takes over the program from Boozier, who gave up the head coaching job when he was hired in February as the AD. In July he will officially take over the athletics director job from Bob Lutton, who announced his retirement in October.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity,” said Millspaugh. “I think most coaches tend to be pretty driven people, and at some point you want the opportunity to execute your vision. You have this vision of what it would be like if you were in charge. I’ve had that for a while.
“The one thing about my vision is I always saw it happening here. Most people, there’s a place where they fit … I feel like I relate well with the kids. I feel like the relationship I have with them is very positive. And I’m just very excited with the opportunity to continue to work with them.”
Millspaugh came to Jay County as an assistant coach under Shane Hill in 2002 and served as his defensive coordinator for eight seasons.
He was a finalist for the head coaching job at South Adams in 2008 and for the JCHS position when Boozier was hired in 2010. He took a year off from coaching before returning as Boozier’s defensive coordinator for the last two seasons.
Millspaugh was Boozier’s clear choice to take over the program.
“He has great knowledge of the game, loves the preparation aspect of the game, but more importantly than that he’s just got a great connection with the kids,” said Boozier, who went 10-20 in his three seasons. “He connects with kids at all different levels, and he connects with all types of kids. I think that’s his best attribute.”
Millspaugh’s focus will be on the fundamentals and instilling a strong work ethic in his team. He believes winning will be a byproduct of doing the right things on and off the field.
“While I understand winning is important and that’s why we play the game and that’s why we work as hard as we do … I’m really big on developing young men into adults,” said Millspaugh, who started his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater, Delta, under Grant Zgunda in 1995. “I want them to be productive members of our community. I want them to be good students so they have academic opportunities for their future. And I want them to represent our school on and off the field in an appropriate manner. … Those are going to be big things with me.”
He plans to continue running the Wing-T offense the Patriots installed for the 2012 season. Jay County was 3-7 last year and fell 42-40 in the opening round of the tournament to Bishop Dwenger, which went on to win the sectional title.
Millspaugh was the defensive coordinator when the Patriots won their only sectional championship in school history in 2007. He has both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Ball State University and is a social studies teacher at JCHS.[[In-content Ad]]