Iroquois Raiders’ head football coach Preston King yells instructions to his team during the game. 21 November 2014
After short stints at a pair of South End schools, Preston King said he’s landed at the one he wants to coach for a long time.
Western High School announced Thursday that it has hired King as its new football coach. He replaces Torrey Shinholster, who stepped down last month after posting a 24-35 record over five seasons.
A former head coach at Valley and Iroquois, the 34-year-old King spent last season as an assistant coach at Manual.
“It feels good to be back in it,” King said. “I feel like Western is one of the best football jobs in the city. You get a lot of talent from that area. … I think it’s the perfect situation.”
A 2000 Valley graduate, King was an assistant coach at his alma mater for seven years before being named head coach in 2011. He posted an 8-23 record in three seasons before becoming head coach at Iroquois in 2014. King went 15-8 with the Raiders, including an 11-2 campaign in 2014 that featured a trip to the Class 5-A regional finals and The Courier-Journal’s Kentucky Football Coach of the Year award.
King coached tight ends, wide receivers and linebackers at Manual last season but knew he wanted to become a head coach again.
“I don’t plan on coaching anywhere else,” King said. “As long as I continue coaching, I want it to be at Western High School. You look at their history, and just about every coach who’s been there has been in a regional final. But nobody ever stays. … This is where I wanted to go and where I want to stay.”
Western finished 4-7 last season, falling to Collins 43-6 in the first round of the Class 4-A playoffs. The Warriors are in Class 4-A, District Three with Breckinridge County, John Hardin, Moore and Valley.
King will join Ballard’s Adrian Morton, Eastern’s Justin Blanford and Oldham County’s Michael Fox as first-year coaches in the Louisville area next season. Central, Moore, Pleasure Ridge Park and Seneca still are searching for new coaches.
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and jfrakes@courier-journal.com.
