Grant Foes has always had ambitions to become a head football coach one day.

That dream has been put on fast forward.

Foes, 23, a 2021 Princeton High School graduate and former Tiger standout, has been named as the new head coach at Kokomo High School in Indiana. He is in his first year as a teacher at Kokomo and was an assistant coach for the Wildkats last fall and looks forward to taking over a well-respected program in the Hoosier State.

Foes took over the responsibilities running the program when Caleb Small resigned as head coach after just one season in February to become head coach at his hometown school Hamilton Heights in nearby Cicero.

“Told myself to put in for it to get some experience to go through the interview process. Ended up interviewing pretty well and they weren’t too worried about the age just because I’ve been handling the kids already. They offered me the job, they’re very supportive of me and I’m very thankful of the opportunity,” he said.

Foes, who becomes the 12th head coach of the Kokomo program since 1923, has made a big impression in his first year on staff.

“We are excited to name Grant Foes as the next head football coach at Kokomo,” Athletic Director Nick Sale said in a press release. “Grant has already made a significant impact in our program this past season, building strong relationships with our student-athletes and earning the respect of our school community. When our program needed leadership, Grant stepped up by leading workouts, setting the standard and bringing energy every day.

“His experience as a college player, combined with his background growing up in a football family, gives him a unique perspective that stood out throughout our process. Grant is an outstanding teacher in our building, and I am confident he will lead our football program with passion, integrity, and purpose. We are excited for the future under his leadership.”

Principal Angela Blessing said in the release that one thing she liked about Foes was he wants to continue to build on the tradition of Wildkat football – both in the classroom, the community and on the turf.

“Over the past year as an economics teacher and assistant coach, he has built strong, meaningful relationships with our students,” she said. “He is already laying down the foundation for a program rooted in trust, accountability and Wildkat pride.”

Foes was an all-state lineman and BCR co-Player of the Year at Princeton and played four years at Indiana Wesleyan University. His dad, Dan, was a longtime assistant at Princeton, and shaped his son’s love for the game.

“Pretty much learned everything I know about coaching from him. I have a lot of other mentors, too, but he really instilled a lot of my beliefs in how to run a program,” Foes said. “I took those to the table. I definitely talked about him in my interview and how much of an impact he’s had.”

Foes will lean on his dad’s coaching experiences as he embarks on his first head coaching job.

“Somehow he’s going to be involved for sure,” Foes said. “He’ll have access to film and taking notes … like a quality control guy, and then he’ll send them to me.”

Kokomo, which has an enrollment of 1,250, will be dropping from 5A to 4A in Indiana’s six-class system for the next two years. The Wildkats, 4-7 last fall, have a rich tradition, reaching the Final Four three times in the last 11 seasons, playing in the 2017 state finals.

“The bump from 5A to 4A helps us out a lot. We have the potential to have success,” Foes said. “We have the athletes to do it for sure. But we have to work out the finer details of mastering the little things before we can look at winning games. The kids know the offense. It was instilled last year along with the defense. Now we can work on playing fast and tackling, setting edges, doing all those things correctly with a purpose. My job is to bring them together and play as a team.”

Foes, who expects to have some 70-80 players in camp, will be taking over the offense calling the plays and plans to be a spread RPO/power run team to get the ball to their playmakers.

“We ran a lot of power at Princeton when I was there and still does. I’ve picked (Princeton coach Ryan Pearson’s) brain and taken some of those aspects,” Foes said. “At I-WU we were very spread, got the ball out quick. But we could run the ball as well with some zones. We’re going to be similar to the last two places I’ve been and played at.

“I want this program to have a foundation of toughness, mentally and physicality.”

Kokomo is a charter member of the North Central Conference in Indiana, which marked its 100th anniversary this week.

Before the football season kicks off Aug. 21 against Mount Vernon (Fortville), Foes and his fiancee, Cali Campbell, a resource teacher at Kokomo High School, will be getting married on June 26. She too, comes from a household rich in football.

“Her dad was a head coach. She’s just been around football. She always told herself she was going to marry into a football family. I said, ‘Hey, here you go,’ ” Foes said.