NEWPORT, Ky. — Bob Schneider, who coached football at Newport Central Catholic for more than four decades, has died, the school announced Friday night. He was 82.
Schneider started as head coach for the Thoroughbreds in 1966 and retired after the 2009 season as the winningest football coach in KHSAA history. He currently holds the state record for third-most career wins (345).
Schneider led the Thoroughbreds to three state titles (1984, 2005, 2006), six championship appearances and nine regional titles in his 44 years as head coach.
Before Schneider took over, NewCath had won only 64 games, an average of one and a half wins per season, according to a previous WCPO report. Schneider retired at age 72 after heart health issues in the previous season caused him to miss the state playoffs. In retirement, he held a quasi-assistant coach position.
Newport Central Catholic Principal Ron Dawn said the school will be forever grateful for Schneider's decades of devotion to his students and players.
“Teaching, coaching and mentoring was his life’s vocation. Coach Schneider dedicated his life not only to those he taught and coached but to the Catholic education of all the students at Newport Catholic and Newport Central Catholic," Dawn said. "His legacy will live on at Newport Central Catholic through the Tuition Assistance Program that he helped to establish.”
Schneider was inducted into the Northern Kentucky High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006. Upon his retirement, the Northern Kentucky Football Coaches Association named their coach of the year award in his honor.
Schneider, a NewCath graduate himself, also coached baseball for nine years and taught English there for decades. He was also a graduate of Villa Madonna College (now Thomas More University) and Xavier University.
