Bishop Kenny is turning to a familiar name to keep its football program heading forward.
The Crusaders announced that they were hiring Tim Krause as their new head coach. Kenny head coach Bobby Raulerson is stepping down “to pursue career opportunities that will require more time than the job of being a head coach allows.”
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Raulerson was 18-12 in three seasons, including a playoff berth in 2016.
In Krause, the Crusaders bring back a link to their successful past. He spent the last five seasons at Nease, going 21-29 and reaching the state playoffs once in 2015. The Panthers' overtime win against St. Augustine that season delivered Nease a district championship and ended an 11-year, 50-game Yellow Jackets district winning streak. That mark ranks second in area history to Bolles' state-record 91 consecutive wins from Nov. 20, 1992 to Oct. 21, 2011.
“I’m really excited, it’s a place my family and I were at for eight years, it holds a special place in my heart so it’s good,” Krause said of returning to Kenny. “I think Nease was the perfect opportunity for me to be a head coach at in that stage of my life, dealing with the program as a whole. Sometimes as an assistant, you have a really self-centered view about things. You don’t think about all the things [you have to do]. As a head coach, you have to think about all those things I want in a program and how to execute those things.”
Krause spent eight seasons on the Kenny staff under coach Mark Thorson, overseeing some of the program’s best times. From 2008-13, Kenny went a combined 52-16, including a regional final appearance in 2012. The Crusaders’ quarterback in Krause’s last four seasons on Kenny’s staff was record-setting signal caller John Wolford.
Wolford set what were then state records in passing yards (10,621), touchdown passes (126), touchdowns responsible for (162), total offense (13,403) and completions (706).
Kenny’s last season under .500 was a 2-8 year in 2007.
"I wish our won-loss record would’ve been a little bit better [at Nease], but the kids are working really hard. We’re running community service events, building the whole person, basically," Krause said. "That’s been the most rewarding thing about being here and I’m looking forward to taking that same approach at Kenny."