Warren East High School had plenty of candidates to be the new head coach of the football program, but throughout the process one name stood out — Jason Foley.

Warren East introduced Foley as the next head coach on Thursday, looking for the longtime Pulaski Southwestern coach to help turn the program back around after a 2-9 season last year.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity,” Foley said. “I’m excited to get in and get going. I think they’ve got pieces. It’s going to take some time to try to get my culture going. I know it is a process, but I look forward to getting in there, meeting the kids and going to work with them and establish the football team.”

Foley has had plenty of success in his nine total seasons as head coach, the last seven at Southwestern. He is 77-37 in his coaching career, 63-29 at Southwestern and 14-8 in two years at Taylor County. Foley’s teams have amassed six district titles, with Southwestern winning region titles in 2018 and 2022. Southwestern appeared in six consecutive region finals under Foley. In 2023 Foley was named the Class 5A, District 8 Coach of the Year. He stepped down in December after a 1-10 season.

He said Warren East felt like the perfect fit.

“I love the location here,” Foley said. “Everybody that I spoke to spoke very highly of the school. They spoke very highly of the kids. From the get-go, I had interest. They had interest and it worked out well.”

While the Raiders struggled last season, Warren East has had its fair share of success — with the team finishing 12-1 and advancing to the region finals in 2022. The Raiders are part of a district that includes 2024 state champion Paducah Tilghman. Franklin-Simpson has a pair of state titles in 2017 and 2018, with Logan County a perennial contender and Allen County-Scottsville playing for a state title in 2010.

Calloway County finished 6-5 last season.

“It’s a very good district, there is no doubt about that,” Foley said. “From Day 1, I knew that. Very good coaches. Very good teams in the district. It’s something we’ve got to work day in and day out to try to get to the level of a couple of them. I know it is not going to happen overnight. It is something we are going to have to deal with, but I look forward to competing with them.”

Foley said it will be a busy couple of weeks as he transitions to Warren East with a lot of things happening quickly.

“I don’t want to rush, but you also want to get things done,” Foley said. “As far as the staff, that is going to be a priority for me. I will meet with the coaching staff that is already here in the program and then I’ve got a couple of outside colleagues that I know that can hopefully get here and help me out as well. It will be a process for a few weeks to see where to fit the puzzle pieces together.”