On Tuesday, Christian County High School announced Ethan Atchley as Head Coach for the Christian County High School Colonel football team. Atchely has served as a head football coach for nine years with an additional three years experience as defensive coordinator. Atchley’s resume includes four regional title appearances and 2016 KHSAA 2A Coach of the Year honors.
“We are pleased that Coach Atchley is joining the staff of CCHS”, said CCHS Principal Kevin Crider. “We are excited for the experience and knowledge he brings. His coaching career is marked by impressive rebuilding efforts and successes and we look forward to seeing Coach Atchley leading our students.”
Atchley is a 2011 graduate of the University of Kentucky and received his master’s from University of the Cumberlands in 2013. After serving as defensive coordinator at Lexington Christian Academy and Lafayette High School, Atchley moved to the ranks of head coach at Lexington Christian Academy. There he compiled a 46-18 record including four consecutive regional final appearances including a historic 12-1 undefeated regular season. Coach Atchley’s vision and belief is to align programs with a K-12 football model.
Coach Atchley and his wife Emily have four children; Abigayle, EJ, Elijah, and Franklin. Christian County High School held a press conference on Tuesday to welcome Coach Atchley.
CCPS Communications Department
Atchley’s opening state at press conference:
In an interview with local media to include WHOP, Coach Atchley shared his thoughts as to why he chose to come to CCHS.
Aside from the school-merger set to take place in a few years, Atchley made it clear that he is not worried about that and wants to try and make an immediate impact specifically for some of his older players that won’t even step foot in that school.
With the merger set to take place, Coach Atchley explained that he has not been promised the role of coach at the new school and that like all high school football jobs in the state of Kentucky, it will be posted online for anyone to have a chance at.
With a high-turnover rate in recent years with head coaches for Christian County football, Atchley talked about winning over the team, and getting them to buy in to his system.
As far as Zach Self, the former interim head coach for the Colonels, Atchley says the he will be talking with him not only to pick his brain about returning players, but to also talk about potentially keeping him on staff.
When it comes to his assistant coaches, Atchley has multiple connections around Kentucky and says he’ll be reaching out to some of them.
Lastly, Coach Atchley answered a the question… What does Ethan Atchley football look like?