After Further Review: Cole Young 4/30

Photo Credit: Cole Young

As the school year winds down, nearly every high school in the area has filled its head coaching positions. As you review the new hires, certain common themes emerge. One recurring pattern is internal promotions, alongside assistant coaches leaving their old staff to forge their own paths as head coaches. Both trends are present this season as well.

Perhaps the biggest theme in the 2025 coaching hires is the return to the Kansas City area by coaches who previously left. This trend can be attributed to several factors: the desire to be closer to family, the opportunity to return to a familiar area, and the chance to coach again in Kansas City.

Three coaches stand out as having returned to the area for prominent positions:

1. Fred Bouchard: The new head coach at Spring Hill. Bouchard previously found success at Harrisonville and Staley before moving to MICDS, where he continued winning. Now, he returns to the Kansas side of the state line, aiming to sustain the success Jason Feeback achieved over the last few seasons before leaving for Belton.
2. Greg Jones: Another significant returnee. Jones, who previously coached at Kearney and Liberty North, spent the last three seasons in college coaching at Oregon and Central Missouri. He is now back in the area, taking over for retiring Sean Martin at Raymore-Peculiar.
3. Jason Thoren: Recently announced as the new head coach at Lawrence. Thoren, a former Jayhawk, has been on staff at UConn and Mississippi State and served nearly a decade as a defensive coordinator at Baker.

These positions, along with a dozen or so others filled this year, attracted top-tier candidates. That’s a clear sign of how much the Kansas City area has progressed over the past 20 years. While the region’s high school football was never poor, the development of Division I talent over the last decade has become increasingly noticeable. This progress is partly due to the caliber of coaches the area has attracted, and it’s fueling a positive cycle of improvement.

The recent NFL Draft is a good example of this talent level. Players drafted from Lawrence to Ruskin and all points in between demonstrate where Kansas City stands in terms of high school football talent.