Head Coach Nick Yordy Strives to Make the Badin Rams the Best they can be
Every day he walks up on the hill, Nick Yordy feels the pressure and the honor of getting to be the head coach of the Badin Rams.
Since taking over the role in 2017 he has bestowed a mantra for the program. R.T.D. “Return to Dominance.” A call back to the Terry Malone days, when teams would think twice about scheduling the Rams.
The season before Yordy took over, who is a 1997 Badin graduate, the Rams were 2-8. Now, three years later, they’re coming off the heels of a regional championship loss to the eventual state champions, Trotwood Madison. That certainly is a step in the right direction, but Yordy is the first to tell you that the job isn’t done.
“You’re always striving to get better,” he said. “That’s what I’m always telling the kids. Let’s get better than we were yesterday. We are always striving to be dominant.”
There is no map on how to get back to that same dominance that the program experienced decades ago, but it’s hard to argue that the Rams aren’t already on that path.
“It’s creating a culture of hard work and teamwork,” said Yordy on how they fully ‘Return to Dominance.’ “And obviously winning games will help raise the expectations of what we want to happen when we step out on the field.”
Yordy was a huge piece of Badin’s athletic dominance in the mid-90s. On the football field, he was in the backfield when the Rams went to state final four in the fall of ‘95. On the baseball diamond, he was front and center during their second state championship run in ‘96.
After Badin, he played football at Thomas More College. Following graduation, he nearly immediately transitioned into coaching.
“Being able to play at the college level really expanded my knowledge of the game,” said Yordy. “I always wanted to grow up and be a teacher and be around kids. So that carried itself over to the football field. I just love the game.”
Yordy held the offensive coordinator position at New Miami and Mount Healthy, before getting the opportunity at Badin. He currently teaches at Mount Healthy.
Though he spent 15 years at other schools, including one season at Badin’s rival Ross, he always knew that he wanted to come back to his alma mater.
“Every coach has one job that they’d want. Getting to go back to the place I went to high school was always a goal of mine,” he said. “Being able to coach [at Badin] is a dream come true.”
When you fill the same position that Terry Malone once held, it, of course, comes with some pressure. After all, Yordy replaced Bill Tenore who went 51-38 in eight seasons at the helm, including one regional runner-up season. But as Yordy has shown through his first couple seasons, pressure can be a good thing.
“I feel pressure every day I walk up on the hill,” Yordy said with a chuckle. “Some of that is pressure I put on myself for going back there and wanting to put Badin back on track… We hit the ground running and we aren’t going to stop.”
When he looks back into his young tenure with the Rams, he looks on a couple of games with fondness.
His first win as a head coach, a 36-6 rout over Ross. Beating Chaminade-Julienne in 2018 to clinch a playoff berth. Beating Butler in the first round of the playoffs that same fall. And of course, beating Alter for the first time in nearly two decades, then beating them again in the playoffs.
“There have been quite a few moments,” he said. “Honestly, anytime you win a football game on a Friday night, it’s pretty special.”
As for what is his driving force behind coaching?
“It might be cliche, but just being around the game,” said Yordy. “Being around the coaches, the kids, all of it. That’s the stuff. The wins and losses will take care of themselves. The little things will take care of the big things.”
Badin is scheduled to take on Ross the first game of the season.