'They will be ready': New Moeller head football coach keeps high standards for Crusaders

As a player and as a coach, Bert Bathiany has enjoyed a lot of success, winning and championships.

As a college coach, Bathiany helped two football programs reach rare levels of success. As a high school head football coach, he doesn’t have to do that, only help reclaim past glory.

Bathiany is in his first preseason as Moeller’s head football coach. He inherits a team that went 13-2 last season and lost a heartbreaker to Springfield in the OHSAA Division I state semifinals.

He replaces Mark Elder, who went 27-12 in his three seasons with Moeller with two regional championships. Bathiany is the fourth head coach at Moeller since John Rodenberg left after the 2017 season. Rodenberg had won two state titles with the Crusaders.

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“Coach Elder obviously did a phenomenal job and they had a phenomenal staff these last three years and I was able to come into a program that had a lot already established,” Bathiany said. “And then I just add my own little tweaks to it. And our big thing is about maintaining momentum because we're a program with momentum and we want to maintain it.”

Bathiany comes to Moeller from Lexington Catholic High School where he led the varsity football team to its first 10-win season since 2015.

His staff at Moeller is a combination of holdover veterans of the Moeller staff and coaches Bathiany hired.

“I think Coach B really brought the standard up this year,” senior Jordan Marshall said. “The younger guys, just helping them hold everybody accountable to the leaders. They know when their number is called, they will be ready.”

Bathiany was a standout football player for Highlands High School. The 2005 graduate was a captain for the football team that won the Kentucky state championship in 2004.

As a college coach, Bathiany helped Tiffin University to a 9-1 season and a conference title in 2019. The Dragons earned their first-ever berth into the NCAA Division II playoffs and came close to upsetting the two-seed in the region, Kutztown, on the road in the first round.

From 2013-18, Bathiany served at his alma mater, Denison University. During that span, Denison rose to prominence in the North Coast Athletic Conference, winning 30 games (.731) including an NCAC Championship in 2018 (the school's first conference title since 1986) and advancing to the 2018 NCAA Division III Playoffs.

“The transition to the new coaches has been really good,” senior Jewett Hayes said. “We're starting to get really close, starting to get to know him and it’s been really smooth. It’s what they've done and how they've done it, like all the new lingo. Mixing it in has gone really well.”

Bathiany inherits a roster with several Division I college prospects, led by Michigan commit Marshall at running back and Notre Dame commit Karson Hobbs at defensive back.

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“Anytime you have a lot of guys who have played a lot of snaps, especially in Ohio and the GCL, that’s valuable,” Bathiany said.

Marshall is coming off a season where he was named the Ohio Gatorade Football Player of the Year after running for over 1,900 yards and 30 touchdowns to help Moeller win a second-straight Division I regional championship. Marshall was nominated for the Mr. Ohio Football award.

“Our biggest strength is our backfield,” Bathiany said. “That's where we bring the most experience back is between our quarterbacks, running back and tight end. And then on the defensive side of the ball, it's probably our front seven.”

The Crusaders have veterans all across the position groups.

“We installed new offense, new defense, so I feel like it's been a lot for the defense to be able to come together as a unit,” said senior Drew Robinson, who is playing defense this season after being a quarterback in 2022. “We need to learn and really understand so everybody can learn each position.”

Moeller’s schedule is usually a gauntlet filled with championship-quality teams. This fall will be no different as the Crusaders face one of their toughest slates in recent memory.

Moeller will face four reigning state champions, all on the road. The Crusaders will play three-time defending Indiana 6A champions Center Grove in Indianapolis, Indiana 4A champion East Central, Michigan 3A titlist Martin Luther King in Detroit, and Ohio Division I state champ Lakewood St. Edward.

Moeller will also host Indiana big-school powers Indianapolis Ben Davis and Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger, plus perennial in-state contender Cleveland St. Ignatius.

“We could always have an argument of someone in the GCL as having the toughest schedule in the country,” Bathiany said. “Even when I was in college and I'd watch highlight tapes of guys in the GCL that would always come up. Our league is really, really good. We’re really just trying to find competitive games. We like playing against good teams. We want to go compete against the best and that's what they’ve been doing here since 1960.”

In Ohio's expanded playoffs, a loss or two during the season won't derail a team's chances at a state title. In that respect, it's similar to Kentucky's playoff structure, which Bathiany has a lot of experience in.

Said Marshall: “Just take one game at a time. Everybody makes the playoffs, so make sure we're playing our best ball by week 10 and the playoffs.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: New Moeller head football coach Bert Bathiany keeps high standards