cody rich

FRANKLIN – Franklin-Simpson is handing the keys of a young and rebuilding girls’ basketball program to a first-time head coach.

The school announced Tuesday that Cody Rich has been hired as the new girls’ head basketball coach at Franklin-Simpson. Rich inherits his first high school head coaching role after serving two years on Dee Spencer’s staff as an assistant coach for the Franklin-Simpson boys’ basketball team.

Rich replaces former Lady Wildcats coach David Clark, who announced his retirement in March after 17 combined seasons at Franklin-Simpson.

The Lady Wildcats won their first District 13 Tournament championship since 2010 this season and Rich is tasked with trying to maintain that consistency despite losing six seniors.

The new head man in charge is up to the challenge.

“I want to build on what we did last year and we finally got back to that district championship level,” Rich said. “But Franklin is used to having that state championship and competing for that region title. That’s where I want to get us. I think we have the up and comers and the girls here to do that, so I’m excited.”

Rich, a 2010 graduate of Edmonson County High School, immediately takes over the girls’ head coaching duties on top of serving as Franklin-Simpson’s track and field coach. A two-time all-state selection and 2,000-point scorer at Edmonson County, injuries kept Rich from furthering his own playing career in college.

He quickly sought to become a coach and at the age of 18, was thrown in the fire as the seventh- and eighth-grade coach at Edmonson County Middle School for three seasons. Rich spent a year as an assistant at Warren East High School before going to Franklin-Simpson in 2016.

Clark, who returned for his second stint as the girls’ basketball coach in 2014, knew his retirement was likely coming at the end of the season. Rich’s name came up quickly in conversation with the administration.

“He’s very intelligent,” Clark said of his successor. “He’s young. The other thing that impressed me was he wanted this job and he knew we were still rebuilding. It ain’t like we’re going to be right there in the mix for a region championship next year. Now, he does have some good kids coming and help is on the way.”

Franklin-Simpson went 15-16 last year with a first-round loss in the Region 4 Tournament to eventual champion Russell County. The Lady Wildcats graduate six seniors that made up more than 90 percent of the team’s scoring.

TyAsia Partinger is the lone rising senior for next year’s team, but the future is set with seven players on the varsity roster from last year who were eighth-graders.

Two years as a science teacher at the school has already given Rich a head start building relationships with the players he’s had in class.

“It helps so much,” Rich said. “I know all these girls and it helps that I know all of them and they’re not just meeting me for the first time on the basketball court. They know me as a teacher, now they’re going to get to know me as a coach.”