MONROE — Brad Hunt stood on the practice field Tuesday afternoon expecting nothing more than a picture.
Monroe athletic director Eric Silverman had given him a heads-up earlier in the day. The school’s public relations staff wanted some practice footage and a photo of Hunt’s varsity football team with the junior high players.
Nothing unusual.
Then administrators started trickling onto the field.
Still, Hunt suspected nothing.
Finally, Superintendent Robert Buskirk began talking.
“I was like, ‘Oh, this is different,’” Hunt said.
It didn’t take long for everything to click.
“As soon as he started talking and what he said initially, I was like, ‘Oh, OK, I’ve been had on this one,’” Hunt said. “I did not see this coming.”
The Monroe graduate who returned home as a teacher and assistant coach was no longer the interim head football coach.
The Hornets were officially his program.
For Hunt, a 2010 Monroe graduate who later played NCAA Division III football at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, the announcement represented another chapter in a relationship with the school and community that has stretched across much of his life.
It also came six games into a season in which Monroe has begun rediscovering something Hunt believes matters more than its 4-2 record.
Pride.
“I don’t think it was record-based necessarily,” Hunt said of the decision to remove the interim tag. “I just think they wanted to see us getting back to having a sense of pride in the jersey that we’re wearing every Friday and just playing hard and having fun and kids are engaged.”
That was Hunt’s mission when he took over.
Monroe went 2-8 in 2025 and entered this season having lost 12 consecutive Southwestern Buckeye League games over the previous three years. Hunt, who had spent seven years working in various offensive and defensive roles on the Hornets’ coaching staff, was elevated to interim head coach before the season.
He wasn’t interested in promising championships or setting a win total.
Instead, Hunt talked about energy, effort and enthusiasm.
The Hornets would worry about winning one day at a time.
“We didn’t talk record with the kids or anything like that,” Hunt said. “We just talked about, let’s focus on those three E’s and that’s what we’re going to bring every single week.”
Monroe has won four of its first six games and three straight, including a 55-34 victory over Clinton-Massie and a 45-36 win at Franklin last Friday to reclaim the Booster Bowl Trophy.
The Hornets have scored 228 points through six games after scoring 131 during the entire 2025 season.
But those numbers aren’t what Hunt points to first.
“The kids have done a great job of buying into all that,” Hunt said. “I think it really shows when we’re playing. We’re just enthusiastic for not only ourselves but for each other.”
That resonated with Monroe administrators.
“As a proud Monroe native, Brad deeply understands our community and has a clear, compelling vision for the future of Monroe football,” Buskirk said in announcing Hunt’s promotion. “Coach Hunt stepped into a difficult situation late last school year and has done an outstanding job from day one as interim head coach.”
Silverman pointed to something beyond Friday nights.
“Brad’s passion for Hornet football, our school and our community is unmatched,” Silverman said. “The respect our players and assistant coaches have for Coach Hunt is a direct reflection of the impact his leadership has had on them individually and collectively.”
Hunt returned to Monroe in 2019 as a teacher. He teaches algebra along with math and money management.
Now he is responsible for a football program he once represented as a player.
And the Hornets suddenly have plenty to play for.
Senior running back Prince Mabasa has emerged as the centerpiece of a productive offense, but Hunt quickly redirects attention whenever the conversation becomes too focused on one player.
“It is Prince, obviously,” Hunt said. “He’s getting the stats and he’s putting in the work, but it’s a whole team effort.”
Hunt credits an offensive line creating running lanes, receivers willing to block despite not always getting the football and a coaching staff finding ways to put players in favorable situations.
That willingness to sacrifice individual numbers for the team fits what Hunt has tried to build.
Hunt said Monroe’s defense has shown flashes but needs more consistency, and he challenged his team after the most recent victory against Franklin despite another impressive offensive performance. Monroe surrendered a blocked punt and a kickoff return for a touchdown in that game.
“Analytically, you should never win that ballgame,” Hunt said.
So when the Hornets met this past Saturday, Hunt challenged them.
Enjoy winning, but learn how to handle it.
“Now let’s go be great Monday through Thursday and see what kind of tape we can put out this coming Friday,” Hunt said.
“I think that’s really what the administration was looking for — just a sense of pride in wearing that jersey on Friday nights.”
