Clay Stephens wasn’t out of the football coaching business for very long. Now the former Western Kentucky defensive back is excited about his new opportunity.

Stephens was introduced last week as the new coach at Adair County. That move came just weeks after he resigned May 6 after one season as Warren Central’s coach.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Stephens said Saturday. “It’s exciting to sit down and share my philosophies with a program and them be excited about what I can bring to the program and help and support what they’ve done over the last few years.

“It’s a great opportunity to get back into it and get after it.”

Stephens worked as an assistant at Barren County, Butler County, Logan County and Central before taking the Dragons’ head coaching job in 2015.

Warren Central went 3-8 last year, notching wins over Meade County, Allen County-Scottsville and Warren East and losing at Hopkinsville in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.

The Dragons played just two true home games in 2015 as the team’s new facilities, including a new Joe Hood Field, were being built.

Stephens resigned at the end of WCHS’ spring practice period. He told the Daily News at the time that, “I just felt like I wasn’t getting it done the way they were expecting me to get it done, so I just needed to step aside.”

Stephens heard support from numerous colleagues in the wake of his resignation.

“That’s been very uplifting to know,” Stephens said. “The coaching fraternity is a special one and people have been reaching out and saying good things.

“They know you can do it and sometimes you just have to go somewhere else to get it done. That means a lot coming from people who’ve done it a long time and know a heck of a lot more about ball than I do.”

Stephens had been in discussions with several schools in recent weeks about various coaching and teaching opportunities.

Adair County representatives reached out to Stephens and asked what his interest would be in the school’s openings for a head football coach and PE teacher. He also had a connection there in Adair boys’ basketball coach Deron Breeze, a former South Warren coach who played high school sports with Stephens.

Stephens inherits a Class 3A Indians team that went 10-2 last season under coach Travis Gay, losing only to Elizabethtown and Caldwell County.

Adair County returns 17 starters from that 2015 roster, meaning Stephens has a full cupboard at his disposal.

“I think recent success, that’s something that’s going good for Adair County,” Stephens said. “When you’re winning, everybody’s excited, just like the other two state championship programs in Bowling Green/Warren County right now.

“I think that’s something big for Adair. The ball’s rolling downhill for them and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.”

-Follow Daily News sports reporter Brad Stephens on Twitter @Stephens_Brad or visit bgdailynews.com.