FRANKLIN — Fred Cranford is coming back home.
Fenwick High School named Cranford as its head football coach Thursday. He succeeds Mark Mueller, who left for the Monroe job when Bob Mullins stepped down following this past season.
Cranford, a 1992 Fenwick graduate, coached at the school from 1998 to 2013. He was the head coach for seven of those years.
“I am honored and humbled to be hired back, and very excited to hit the ground running,” Cranford said. “It will be imperative to build and strengthen our relationships over the last few years of volunteering at BFHS and reinforce the Falcon mentality.”
Cranford, 50, who was a former longtime head coach at Fenwick and Loveland, volunteered as an assistant coach at Fenwick this past season.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us, but it takes a village, an attitude willing to make a sacrifice, and work hard,” Cranford said. “All I am going to ask is our players work hard, compete, and bleed red and gold as I did. This is family. This is home. I am recharged and excited to get to work.”
Cranford graduated from Otterbein University in 1996 and completed his master’s degree in educational administration from Xavier University.
Cranford directed Loveland to a Division II state championship and was the head coach there for six seasons before stepping away to focus on his family. He will work with the athletic department and teach part-time at Fenwick.
“We are incredibly excited to bring Coach Cranford back home,” Fenwick athletic director Tyler Miller said.
Fenwick went 5-5 overall and 1-4 in the Greater Catholic League Coed this past season and opens the 2024 season at Franklin Aug. 23.
Cranford lives in Lebanon with his wife Betsy and their three children.
