In the past three years, Trinity Prep football has only won three games, but hope is on the horizon. After 13 years of leading the University High football team, Brian Kells steps into the role as head football coach and activities director at Trinity Prep.
Kells built University High’s football team from the ground up, transforming it from a completely new program to eight winning seasons accompanied by several playoff runs. After stepping away from football for five months, Kells is coming back to the game he loves, wanting a new challenge.
“I think if you’re not challenging yourself to do something different or give yourself those challenges, you’re not really living life or pushing yourself,” Kells said.
Kells realized that Trinity Prep was the chance he had been waiting for, allowing him to step into a new environment and rebuild another program.
“I know [Trinity] football has struggled as of late but has had some success in the past,” Kells said. “I decided to take the unique opportunity to come and try something really different and to be a part of a smaller, more close-knit family.”
Kells is excited about the future of the team, pushing past obstacles and reaching for victory. Through a larger coaching staff, an easier schedule of opponents and a new offensive strategy, Kells is optimistic about the team’s competitive chances.
“We’re focusing on the immediate stuff that we can control right now,” Kells said. “We’re working hard every day.”
Kells understands that bringing the program to victory requires a continuous series of small steps that will create a stairway to greatness. Though the team might not win immediately, the goal is to create a foundation that will generate winning teams in the near future.
“It’s a little challenging because when [the team] goes against teams that have experienced players, we are going to struggle at moments,” Kells said. “I think the big thing for us is to work on gett[ting] consistently better as the season progresses.”
Kells also believes that the administration’s support of a full coaching staff through five other coaching hires will be helpful in producing and fostering football talent as players will receive more attention and guidance.
“Previously, there really were only one to two coaches,” Kells said. “Here I have a full staff. When you come out to [play] football, you’re going to have a position-specific coach to work on those positions specifically.”
Outside of football logistics and strategy, Kells recognizes that in order to make the team a success in the eyes of the student body he must also change the current football culture.
“You can see that there isn’t a [football] culture here,” Kells said.
As a head coach, he hopes to change the way students view the team by getting more involved in the school community and by simply winning more football games.
“I am trying to be as involved in the school as possible, not just as a football coach, but as activities director and trying to start a video production program here,” Kells said. “I think hopefully in time that will start to help change the culture and wins always take care of that as well.”
Outside of football, Kells’ new role as activities director also provides him a way to positively impact the student body. In his new position, he is in charge of student council and student events. He aims to use what he learned as activities director at University to better Trinity Prep.
“I hope to try and bring some of that [experience] to add new ideas to the different events here and add a few new events to try and help build that school spirit and try and help grow the culture in general,” Kells said.
Kells will play a key role in the planning for major events such as homecoming, prom and Headmaster’s Day. His goal is to increase student engagement through enjoyable events throughout this year.
Through his positions as both the head football coach and activities director, he encourages students to get more involved and take action in changing their Trinity community for the better.
“It’s sometimes easy to sit back and criticize,” Kells said. “I always say to come out and be a part of it. Be that change.”
