Sports
Sheridan Coach Culver’s Hall Of Fame Career
By: Nathan Wiseman
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Paul Culver stresses intensity and strives to bring out the best in his players.
Coach Culver’s strive for success and dedication for Sheridan football has been apparent throughout his 42-year coaching tenure.
Dedication and coaching intensity are reasons why the Sheridan head football coach was honorably selected to be a member of the 2014 class of the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Paul Culver began his head-coaching career at Trimble in 1973, where he coached for six years before a short stint at Buckeye North from 1979 to 1980. In his final season at Trimble, Culver led the Tomcats to a TVC Championship victory and finished his tenure at Trimble with a 37-18-4 record.
He picked up another gig at Sheridan in 1981 and has remained under control since.
Through nine weeks of play in the 2013 season, Culver’s overall head-coaching record is 303-123-5 and his Sheridan coaching record is 257-104. Culver’s Muskingum Valley League record is 212-69.
The head ball coach has accumulated an astonishing amount of awards and records throughout his coaching tenure.
Since taking the reigns as the Head Coach of Sheridan in 1981, Culver has won 15 MVL titles, made 17 playoff appearances and won two regional titles. Culver’s Generals were the State Runners-up in 1987. In the 2008 football season, Sheridan won the MVL, claimed the title of regional semi-finalists, and earned the title of AP State Champions.
In 1996, Culver won the Southeast Ohio Regional School Board Outstanding Program Leader Award. Culver won the Southeast Ohio District Div. III Coach of the Year Award in 1994, 2008, and 2010. He won the OVAC Coach of the Year Award in 1980 before earning the MVL Coach of the Year award 14 times throughout his career. These prestigious accolades are part of the reason why Sheridan’s Paul Culver Jr. Stadium is named after its veteran head coach.
Consistency and family have also played an essential part in Culver’s coaching career. John Coleman has been an assistant coach for Sheridan since Culver’s first season, and Nick Bendle has been on the staff for more than 20 years.
Coach Culver also passed the coaching gene to his sons, Paul III and Chad who have stood on the sidelines with their dad for several seasons. His sons Kevin and Kyle also played football for their dad.
Culver will be inducted into the Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame at a banquet in June 2014.