Sayre Revives Football with an NFL Star
Chad Pennington Will Lead Spartans’ First Team Since 1977
What better way to revive a football program after more than four decades than to bring in a former NFL star quarterback to lead the program? That’s exactly what Sayre School has done by hiring Chad Pennington to head the football program that will play its first games since the sport was dropped in 1977.
Sayre will play a nine-game schedule in the fall – four freshman-sophomore games, four JV games and one varsity game. The program will consist of players in eighth through 12th grade.
Pennington, 41, played for 11 years in the NFL and is the only player to win the Comeback Player of the Year award twice (2006, 2008). In 2008, he finished second in the MVP voting to Peyton Manning.
At the time of his retirement, Pennington was the NFL’s all-time leader in career completion percentage (66.0%) among quarterbacks with at least 1,500 pass attempts.
In college, Pennington starred at Marshall in West Virginia, leading the Thundering Herd to three straight conference titles. His teammate at Marshall, Randy Moss, became an All-Pro receiver in the NFL and played for 15 seasons.
After his retirement from the NFL and one season as a TV broadcaster, Pennington and his wife searched for a home that was near his family in Tennessee and hers in West Virginia. They also wanted a community with good schools and was big enough to provide opportunity for their three boys but not too big.
Central Kentucky met all their criteria, and they moved to Versailles in 2012.
Pennington became a youth coach right away, coaching at The Lexington School, where he will remain involved while coaching the Sayre program.
Pennington’s oldest son, Cole, a 14-year-old freshman, will play on the Sayre team, and Luke, 11, plays at TLS. Gage is 9 and also attends TLS.
Sayre players start workouts in June and will play for a coach who is as committed to safety and academics as he is to football.
“As youth and high school coaches, we are the ‘keepers of the game,’” Pennington said. “We must change the way we teach the fundamentals to our young players as well as place a major focus on the structure and organization of our practice schedules.”
Both his parents were educators, so Pennington appreciates the relationship between athletics and the classroom.
“Sports teaches the kinds of skills that educators today appreciate: Resilience, courage, time management, dealing with failure,” he said. “Sports are performance driven and that is a great teacher.”
In that vein, Pennington will encourage his players to play multiple sports.
Sayre Athletic Director Rich Little said he favors the addition of football to the school’s sports offerings.
“Not only does football promote teamwork, sportsmanship and resiliency, it also provides a unique athletic experience for a number of students who do not participate in other sports,” he said.
“Football is also a sport that brings people together and builds community.”
Pennington expects to hire a staff of six for a program of approximately 30 players or more.
With 137 boys in 8th-12th grade, Sayre will compete as a 1-A school. Its first varsity game comes Oct. 5 against Jenkins High at an equidistant neutral field at Kentucky Christian in Grayson, Ky.
Sayre will play a full 10-game varsity schedule in 2020 and will be eligible for post-season play the following year.
“We love Sayre and I’m very excited to partner with the school,” Pennington said. “This is a fun challenge, and it’s important to build the right infrastructure and foundation and think about what’s best for the future.
“I’m looking forward to partnering with the entire school community. We can celebrate as a school as we watch our kids compete.”