Thomas Worthington athletic director Molly Feesler received applications from around the country for the school’s football coach opening.
She ended up hiring someone with intimate knowledge of the school and the program.
Scott Gordon, who previously guided Thomas for seven seasons, was approved as coach by the school board Thursday night. He succeeds Mike Picetti, who stepped down in November.
Gordon and Feesler met with players during a weight-training session Friday morning.
“Like I told the kids this morning when we introduced him …, we opened this search far and wide and we got applications from all over the United States, and right under our nose was the best candidate we could have found,” Feesler said.
Gordon, 63, has been dean of students at Thomas since 2008.
“We’ve got all the ingredients of continuing to build this program,” he said. “I feel pretty confident that we can do that. The kids are excited. They’re hard workers in the weight room.”
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A 1980 graduate of Thomas, then known as Worthington High School, Gordon went 22-48 in his first stint as coach, which ended after the 2013 season. He also served as an assistant from 1982-90.
After stepping down as head coach, Gordon was able to watch his son, Danny, a 2014 Thomas graduate, play football at South Carolina. His daughter, Kendall, is a 2011 graduate who went on to play lacrosse at Louisville.
“After my son was done playing college football and I felt like I had a chance to coach again, I really had the itch to do it, but with … the number of years that I had in toward retirement, it never looked like I would be able to do it unless it would have been back here at Thomas Worthington,” Gordon said. “I really didn’t expect that the position would open up for quite some time.
“This is really what has been a void in my life for a long time, so all of a sudden I was pretty excited about it.”
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Thomas went 15-38 in five seasons under Picetti with a winning record in 2022 (6-5) and three postseason appearances. He coached the first five games last season before health problems forced him to miss the final five. During that time, he advised coaches and players and worked on scouting reports.
The Cardinals went 0-10 last season.
Before his first head-coaching stint at Thomas, Gordon guided Grandview Heights for four seasons, going 22-19. He also coached at Northridge and Whitehall.
Gordon played one season of college football at both Murray State and Cincinnati before an injury ended his career. He returned home to serve as a classified educational worker and begin his high school coaching career.
He later resumed his education and graduated from Ohio State in 1990 before serving as a football graduate assistant at Florida under former coach Steve Spurrier.
Gordon and his wife, Gretchen, live in Worthington.
“It’s exciting,” Feesler said. “We’re in good shape, especially with the experience he has. He’s in our building every day as our dean of students. I’ve never known him as a coach, but he’s always been ‘Coach.’ Once you’re a coach, you’re always a coach.”
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