(12-17-25)The Batavia Athletic Department announced Dec. 17 that Frank Russell will lead the Bulldog football program. Russell was previously the head football coach at Lima Bath High School, a Division IV, Region 14 school in Lima.
Bath announced Russell’s resignation about two hours before Batavia released the news about hiring Russell as its next head coach. Russell takes over the position after Wayne Stacy stepped down after leading the program for the last four seasons.
Russell spent three seasons with the Wildcats, highlighted by this past season when he led the Western Buckeye League team to a 9-3 overall record and 7-2 mark in a competitive WBL that featured four playoff teams. The 9-3 record is the program’s best finish in a season since 1999, and the regional semifinal appearance was the Wildcats’ first since 2003. Bath lost to Division IV state runner-up Shelby.
Russell’s overall record during his first tenure as head football coach was 19-16, and the Wildcats made the playoffs every year. It’s the first time in program history that Bath has reached the playoffs in three consecutive seasons.
Other stops for Russel include Colerain as defensive backs coach from 2021-22 and Franklin High School as a defensive coordinator from 2015-20
Batavia Athletic Director Mark Pierson
“As the new Bulldogs head coach, coach Russell brings a transformational coaching style to Batavia, focusing on culture, growth and motivation. It is coach Russell’s mission to, ‘Use football to teach and develop young men who strive to be the best in all phases of their lives.’”
The Bulldogs were 4-6 this year and 1-4 in the Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference American Division.
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