H.S. Football: Keystone hires former Elyria and Elyria Catholic coach Brian Fox

Keystone has developed a strong football tradition since 2014. As a result, it attracted a deep pool of applicants when its coaching position opened following the resignation of Don Griswold on Dec. 7. Brian Fox, who coached Elyria Catholic from 2018-22 and Elyria in 2023, rose to the top of the list of candidates and was approved as the Wildcats' coach Monday. "I'm so excited. Lorain County does such an incredible job supporting high school football, giving these kids a spotlight," Fox said. "Keystone is an amazing place. It's a great community. It supports athletics. Good families. Good kids. "It's a job I never really thought about. Griz has been locking it down for so long, but it's exactly the kind of job you hope for." Fox, 38, is a 2006 graduate of Huron, where he played under legendary coach Tony Legando. He played for a couple of seasons at Baldwin Wallace University before injuries made his stop. He finished his college career as a student assistant. Fox led the Panthers to three regional semifinals and one regional championship appearance (2021) in five seasons. He left for Elyria and went 1-10 in his only season. He spent the past two seasons at North Royalton as a defensive assistant under veteran coach Nick Ciulli. When Ciulli recently moved on, Fox was a finalist for the North Royalton job. "My time away from Lorain County football has been an awesome experience," Fox said. "It gave me a chance to work at different schools and coach under the all-time wins leader for North Royalton. It was an incredible opportunity. I learned a lot from him. That time away from Lorain County gave me the chance to develop a different perspective and focus to better run a program and to be a more effective coach in the future." Griswold led the Wildcats to four conference championships with a 49-32 record. "I'm just focused on getting into the building as quickly as I can," Fox said. "The goal is to try and do things the right way, which is develop a strong culture, push as hard as I can to develop the weight room and work on developing relationships with the kids. Strong relationships are the foundation in which strong programs are built on." Keystone has advanced to the Division V playoffs five times since 2014, most recently in 2024. "We are ecstatic," athletic director Jeff Holzhauer said. "Brian's exactly the kind of guy we were looking for to take over after Don, who has done a tremendous job over the years. We had a great pool of applicants, which is a great credit to Don and the program he has built over the years. Brian kind of stood out from the start as far as the guy we wanted. He did a great job selling himself and we're very excited to have him on board." The Wildcats were in contention for a sixth playoff appearance in the fall before a last-second 20-19 loss to Clearview in the finale. Fox never played Keystone in his seasons at Elyria Catholic but did have seven-on-seven scrimmages. "Danny Lampron and Ryne Shackelford were two of their standouts that gave them a lot of press when we faced them," Fox said. "I've seen a whole bunch of highlights." Keystone will graduate five offensive starters along with four on defense from the 2025 team, but the Wildcats will return All-Ohioans Wyatt McKee (running back), John Faltay (lineman) and Zach Taylor (defensive back). Fox said he's looking forward to working with Holzhauer, a 1995 Keystone grad who is in his 14th season as the boys basketball coach and 14th year (25th overall) as varsity track coach. "Jeff's the man," said Fox. "One of the big reasons I was attracted to this job was they have the big three. They have a phenomenal, sports-minded superintendent (Zach Weagley), they have DJ Shaw (high school principal), who is a coaching legend himself, and Jeff, who is killing it from a basketball perspective. All three come so highly recommended and so highly talked about. It made it such an attractive job." "When we found out that Brian was possibly interested in the job we were extremely excited," said Holzhauer. "It's the perfect district for him. I believe it's what he's looking for so I think it's a win for Keystone and I think it's a win for Brian. I think this is the kind of place Brian wants to be at. It's the kind of place he can come in and win and build the program that he wants to have. "Division V is a great division in football. There aren't as many parochial schools. In football, it's a lot of schools and communities that are a lot like Keystone. It's more of a level playing field." Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.