Bowling Green's head coach Kevin Wallace expresses his opinion to a referee at a high school football game at El Donaldson Stadium in Bowling Green Friday, Nov. 3, 2017. (Photo by Joe Imel/jimel@bgdailynews.com)

Kevin Wallace coached Class 5A Bowling Green to five championships since 2011. St. Xavier has fallen short of the state crown in Class 6A since 2009.

St. Xavier administrators believe Wallace is the man to bring the Tigers out of a championship drought.

Wallace was introduced Tuesday as the Tigers’ 19th head football coach at the Wills Sports Activities Center on St. Xavier’s campus in Louisville.

Wallace, 57, coached 22 seasons at Bowling Green and won 299 games in 32 years of coaching the Purples and his alma mater, Warren East.

Wallace retired from teaching at Bowling Green in the summer of 2016. His wife, Dana, retired last summer. Wallace said during his introductory news conference Tuesday the new adventure with the challenge of bringing a title back to St. Xavier was too good to pass up.

“If you’re a high school coach in Kentucky, this is an elite place to be,” Wallace said. “While we’ve won championships at Bowling Green and I’ve got great relationships there, the challenge here is to do it at the highest level of football in this state. At my age, this will be the last opportunity for something like that to happen. I’m excited about this.”

Wallace resigned from his coaching position at Bowling Green on Monday to replace Will Wolford at St. Xavier, who in December stepped down after five seasons with a 44-22 record.

The Tigers went 12-3 last season and lost to Trinity in the Class 6A state championship game. Although the Tigers’ 12 state titles are tied for the fifth-most all-time in the state, St. X hasn’t won a state championship since 2009.

All but one season since then has resulted in a postseason loss at the hands of Trinity.

“I’ve always wanted to go to the St. X-Trinity game, I’ve been a little busy,” Wallace quipped during his news conference. “It’ll be a different environment and I understand the pressure. …

“For us to be in a position to win a state championship, we have to be a top 20 team in America. That’s what’s going to be our goal. I don’t think we need to think any other way that we hope someone else falls back to our level. The road map of how to get there is uncharted.

“I know this: If our coaches and players will be solidified in what we do and create a great chemistry of us, then we’ve got a great chance to work toward that goal.”

When Wallace was asked what style of play he’ll bring to St. Xavier, he said offense will center around the quarterback’s skills and defenses will stick to the big, aggressive tradition the Tigers have built.

Since Wallace’s first state championship at Bowling Green in 2011, the Purples averaged 42 points per game and produced two Mr. Football winners in Nacarius Fant (2013) and Jamale Carothers (2016).

In the last seven years, Bowling Green quarterbacks have averaged 2,561 passing yards with 39 touchdowns against just five interceptions.

Special teams has also been a central focus for Wallace, who said it can often change the momentum in a game. Last year alone, the Purples returned five punts for touchdowns and four kickoffs for scores. Bowling Green averaged 14.5 yards per return on punts and 31.5 yards on kick returns.

“I understand what people want here,” Wallace said. “I get it and that’s what I want. We just have to figure out a way how we can elevate the program. It’s already in a really good place.

“That’s something I want to make sure comes out of this. I’m not trying to act like I can wave a magic wand and erase things I can’t erase. There’s not big problems here. We’re going to add to what we’ve done and we’re going to see if we can reach a level we haven’t reached before.”{&end}