Larry Kempe hoping to continue coaching after year away
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When the 2026 high school football season kicked off on Aug. 21, Larry Kempe found himself in uncharted territory.
For the first time in 30 years, and for just the second season in a Hall of Fame coaching career that spans 52 years, Kempe was merely a spectator.
Instead of being on the sidelines, he was sidelined. He watched the opening week of games unfold from a distance. Kempe streamed a few games, tuned into some on TV, watched the highlights and read about the games the following morning.
Kempe most recently served as a defensive coach at Niles. When Jim Parry stepped down from the helm of the Red Dragons at the end of the 2025 season, Kempe decided to sit out this season, though he did entertain offers from several area coaches.
"I haven't been to a game this season," Kempe said. "I don't want to be that guy in the stands that is sitting there going, 'What are they doing? Why aren't they playing this kid? Why aren't they running the ball more?'
"What I have to say is irrelevant. I'm not with those kids seven days a week. It's not my place to second guess anyone, so I'll just keep tabs from afar."
Kempe began his coaching career in 1973 at Washington Junior High in Niles, where he served under Tony Molinari. At 20 years old, Kempe was coaching with a man who just two years earlier was one of his coaches and teachers at Warren JFK.
At the time, Tony Napolet, who was Kempe's head coach at JFK, was the head coach at Niles.
"That first game, I remember thinking, 'What am I doing here?'" Kempe said. "It's one thing to help run a practice, but suddenly you're in a game situation, and you're terrified of making a mistake. You don't want to let down your coaches, especially because these were guys who had a major influence in my life.
"I was a volunteer coach for three years, and was never paid a cent. But by the second year, I knew coaching was something I wanted to do long-term."
In 1978, Kempe began a four-year run as the defensive coordinator at Leetonia. He maintained the DC title for the bulk of his coaching career. In 1982, he returned to Niles, this time to coach at the varsity level. He moved over to Girard from 1991 to 94, then, following a year off, he returned to Niles for a seven-year stint.
Kempe spent one year at Mathews as the Mustangs' defensive coordinator, then assumed the same role at Ursuline from 2005 to 2011. During that span, the Irish went 73-37, winning three straight state championships while appearing in a fourth title game. Kempe then served as Ursuline's head coach from 2012 to 2018 and finally returned to Niles for a third time from 2019 to 2025.
Kempe spent more than 30 years teaching at Niles.
"Over the years, I've been blessed to have worked with a number of Hall of Fame coaches," Kempe said. "Legends like Nappy and Jack Pierson. Denny Zolciak and Pat Merrick. Really too many to mention.
"The past seven years at Niles, I was coaching with guys that I taught and coached. We knew each other. I knew what they were about, and they knew me. They were good people, and it was a good fit."
Career highlights obviously include Ursuline's three-peat.
"I was blessed to be a part of that," Kempe said. "That was a really good coaching staff. The kids bought into the mission, and they worked their butts off to achieve their goal. And a little luck along the way didn't hurt. If anyone tells you that luck isn't involved with that type of incredible run, they're lying to you."
Kempe saw many changes over the years, some good and some bad. Technology, he said, made the game easier to follow for both fans and coaches. He recalls having to drive to Youngstown Microfilm to pick up game film, "which we would have to feed into the projector over and over again before it finally tore and we'd have to splice it back together." Today, online streaming services provide instantaneous access.
The game itself is much different from the stack-I and wing-T formations that were commonplace throughout the Mahoning Valley when Kempe began his coaching career.
"The game is much more wide open," Kempe said. "It's a much quicker game. And the spread formations have forced defensive coordinators to change the way they coach in many ways."
Kempe said that today high school football is a year-round commitment for both players and coaches.
"It's much more time-consuming than it has ever been," Kempe said. "If you want to compete today, you have to make one heck of a personal commitment. Time in the weight room is a necessity. It's like that with every sport, so if you're a multi-sport athlete, you have to give up a part of your personal life. Is that fair? No, but it's a requirement. And too many kids and some coaches don't want to make that strong a commitment.
"Why do we as coaches do this? Because we're stupid. I've heard coaches say that if you add up the total number of hours they work and do the math, they get paid about a quarter an hour. I would love that pay. I think it's closer to five cents an hour."
Having coached at both public and parochial schools, Kempe said he is a firm believer that open enrollment has "greatly evened out the playing field" and does not support separate state tournaments for public and private schools.
"When I was at Niles in the early and mid-80s, it ticked us off that we were routinely losing probably about 20 kids per year to JFK," Kempe said. "That was their choice. We had to get better at what we were doing; we had to change the culture of our program.
"When I was at Ursuline, people thought I was carrying 10 scholarships in my back pocket. That just wasn't the case. Open enrollment has changed everything. Ask any coach of a successful public program how many of his players are truly homegrown and live in that community. If he says 100%, my next question is 'Where are the rentals?'"
Kempe said his own sons attended Girard City Schools through the eighth grade. When given the choice of high schools, both sons opted for Ursuline, which is where Kempe was coaching at the time.
Still, Kempe also said that open enrollment "has spiraled out of control" and he believes the Ohio High School Athletic Association "is weak and scared to death" to make what he believes are necessary changes.
"Let's call it what it is, open enrollment has become the transfer portal," Kempe said. "There are some local athletes who are juniors and who are at their third high school. There's just no loyalty. Mom and dad get sold a bill of goods, their heads swell and junior is moving on to the next school.
"All of these kids that are moving from school to school. I would love to know how many of them succeed athletically at the next level. Ultimately, you are in school to get an education. Unless your school is closing or is academically deficient, what's the point? You should get one move, and that's it. Use it wisely."
Kempe's hiatus from the sidelines likely isn't permanent. He hopes to return to coaching next year in some capacity, but "only if it is a perfect fit."
"I have to feel like I can be a contributor and I have to believe in the mission of that program," Kempe said.
"I know some people think I have a dominant personality. I am who I am, but I have calmed down quite a bit over the years. The bottom line is that I still have a passion for this game, and I have a passion for teaching and coaching kids the right way of doing things."
In 2022, Kempe was inducted into the Trumbull County Sports Hall of Fame.