Foulk began his coaching career in 1973 and has been at the helm of the Cougars’ girls basketball team since 1984, six years after the school opened. He amassed a career record of 619-176 at Kenton Ridge and is in the top 10 in all-time wins in Ohio.
Though the Cougars never struggled to win and make deep runs in the tournament, they’ve had low player turnout in recent years. Kenton Ridge began the 2016-17 season with 11 players for both its varsity and junior varsity teams and had as few as nine available during the season due to injuries and some players quitting.
After hearing that a couple of Kenton Ridge’s current players were thinking about transferring, Foulk decided it was time to let someone else take over the program.
“It’s been a tough decision, but I’ve said if I cannot have enough for a reserve team, it’s time for me to quit,” Foulk said. “We were getting close to that this year.”
Foulk’s coaching style is fiery — “old school,” as he describes. But in the last decade, he said he’s seen more players become upset or put off by his instruction. He said part of the recent turnout problem is due to the view of many prospective players that he and Bennett are “too hard” in practice.
“I have changed my ways — some of my old players who have seen me recently think I’ve mellowed out,” Foulk said. “But I’m still tough, and kids don’t like the old school. Stephi Bennett has run a lot of college drills in practice, and its competition all the time. If you don’t do what you’re supposed to, you do push-ups and laps.
“Over the years, we’ve had a lot of supportive parents, but a lot less so here lately. We’re demanding coaches and have high expectations and hard practices. Some of the newer parents have a hard time agreeing with our philosophies. They see their kids play in the summer time (on travel teams) and miss 20 shots in a row, and no one says or does anything.”
But what Foulk says he will remember most are the many good relationships he has had with players and their families over the last three decades. Twenty-nine players went on to play basketball in college (including 11 at the Division I level), and 15 played other sports in college.
“We’ve had so many great relationships with our players and parents,” Foulk said. “I’ve enjoyed seeing so many of them grow and develop, and many of them have had a lot of success outside of basketball.”
The success his players had on the court is still unmatched in many areas. Kenton Ridge set the national record for points per game in the 2000-01 season (99.3) and then broke the record in 2001-02 with an average of 100.1. Both are still the top marks in the country according to National Federation of State High School Associations records.
“I guess you could say that my career was controversial, because we always scored a lot of points,” Foulk said. “We scored over 100 points 55 times, and when you score that many, someone gets mad at you.
“In those years, we got the ball out and ran as fast we could all the time. For a long time, to get someone all-state, you had to score a lot of points. Since we weren’t in the Dayton area and they had good Catholic schools like Alter, the newspaper kind of favored them down there. Our kids had to get into the 30s (individually) a lot to get their attention.”
The high scores did get the attention of many, including state and national media. Thirty-five players had all-state honors during Foulk’s time at Kenton Ridge, and Tara Cosby was a Parade All-American in 1990 and 1991. Angie Finkes also had other all-American honors in 1995 and 1996.
Foulk said one of the biggest reasons he was able to help develop so many players during his time is the help of quality assistant coaches.
“They’ve been a great help, and we’ve always had appreciative and understanding administrations, especially for all the out-of-state trips we’ve taken at Christmas time over the years,” Foulk said.
Foulk also coached Kenton Ridge’s softball team for over two decades and amassed a 462-156 record in that sport. He retired after the 2009 season, after which Sarah Schalnat took over the program. Under Schalnat’s guidance, the Cougars softball success has continued — they have winning records every year since 2010 and have made the districts twice, including in 2013 when they finished as state runner-up.
Foulk said he hopes whoever takes over the girls basketball program will keep the program as one of the state’s best. He said he plans to watch games like he does in softball, but he’ll be sure to allow the new coaching staff to have their space.
“It’s been really fun and I’ve enjoyed it and I hate to give it up,” Foulk said. “My wife (Peggy) and I may have to venture where it’s warm for a month or two in the winter. I can’t thank her enough for putting up with me coaching for all those years, especially a lot of basketball and softball games in the summer.”
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