The Fulton Hornets have found the new leader of their football program.
The Fulton 58 Board of Education approved the hiring of Blake Logan as the new head coach during its regular meeting Wednesday night. The 32-year-old Logan replaces Pat Kelley, who retired in November after 20 seasons with the Hornets.
Logan spent this past year as a defensive assistant coach at Jefferson City High School and prior to that was head coach at Class 2 Van-Far from 2011-2015. He also served as Van-Far's athletic director for two years and was the Indians' track and field coach before taking the Jefferson City position.
"The original plan was to stay three to five years, or more, in Jeff City," Logan said. "I caught wind of the Fulton opening and decided to go for it. I like the diversity of the district and the diversity of the community.
"I have to start planning the offseason and summer camps. It will be a very hectic spring and summer, but it will be a lot of fun."
Logan is originally from Louisiana, Mo., but already knows Fulton well. He graduated from Westminster College in 2007 and was a defensive back for the Blue Jays, where he was named a first-team, all-conference pick his senior season.
"I thought it was a great opportunity to go back to the town I attended college," Logan said. "Being familiar with the community as a head coach is important. Sometimes, coaches go into the community and don't know where anything is. I lived in the community for four years and made many friends here.
"(Westminster head) coach (John) Welty was one of the reasons I wanted to get coaching in the first place. Whether it be with the community or surrounding communities, I feel I know the town and the people within the community."
Logan noted that he has watched a few Fulton basketball games this year to get a preview of the athletes he will be coaching and liked what he saw.
"There is a lot of talent there - I think there is a lot of potential to have success in Fulton," he said. "They play in a very tough conference in the NCMC (North Central Missouri Conference). I know the class of the conference is Hannibal. I think with playing against larger (Class 4) schools as a Class 3, there is a potential for a postseason run.
"The upcoming senior class is really good."
Logan believes he has learned a lot from coaching at Van-Far and Jefferson City. He explained that the size of his new coaching staff and the number of kids playing will be different than his first head-coaching tenure.
"I'll have a bigger staff - we have 16 coaches here. I've heard the phrase, 'You can't have too many coaches,'" Logan said. "I'll have more support that way and there's more kids than Van-Far. I'll definitely do more recruiting in the hallways and build relationships with the kids.
"My big thing is that those who are motivated in a positive way will do more for you. I will motivate my assistants and student-athletes so that they're willing to work hard."
Logan hopes his new players will understand what they need to do in order to be successful.
"I'm looking forward to meeting with them and getting them to buy into the process," he said. "You have to have kids with high character, and if those kids buy into the process, the results will be the by-product.
"They should expect that we're going to work hard and we're going to have fun. We're going to do it the right way. Games in the fall are not won in the fall, they are won with hard work in the offseason."
Logan plans to implement a multiple-spread offense with the Hornets, who went 5-6 last season and were eliminated by Blair Oaks in the Class 3, District 6 playoffs.
"We'll try to run power, counter schemes, zone-gap schemes and take what the defense gives us," Logan said. "We'll also have RPOs (run-pass options) built in. We'll run our base plays out of multiple formations."
Logan hasn't locked down what the Hornets' base defense will look like, but described what he would ideally like to do. He said he is waiting to hear how many assistant coaches will be returning before settling on a defensive scheme.
"That's up in the air. My first order of business, figure out who will be coming back," Logan said. "My philosophy is to show multiple fronts to keep the offensive line guessing and keep them off-balance. Employ even and odd fronts, make sure the offensive line doesn't know what's coming."
Logan is excited to start his new job.
"I feel like I'm easily approachable, someone who's open-minded and someone who's ready to work," he said. "I'm proud to be a Hornet."