Kiski Area hires Edinboro football coach Jake Nulph as new athletic director

By: Michael Love
Monday, December 9, 2024 | 1:45 PM

Jake Nulph made his mark in the collegiate football coaching ranks the past two decades after playing careers at Apollo-Ridge and Robert Morris.

Now, the Alle-Kiski Valley native, who served as the football coach at Edinboro since 2020, is coming home.

The Kiski Area School Board unanimously approved at a meeting Monday evening the hiring of Nulph as its next athletic director.

“This is a great honor,” Nulph said. “It was tough leaving Edinboro. I put five years in as the head football coach there through a pandemic and integration, and I am happy I am leaving on such great terms. I wish Edinboro nothing but the best.

“But an opportunity like this at Kiski comes along once in a lifetime.”

Living in Apollo, Nulph drove 260 miles a day to Erie and then back home.

“That is a huge commitment on my family because I am never home,” Nulph said. “The opportunity like this at Kiski, it was something I was clearly interested in. Going through the interview process, and to now be sitting here as the athletic director, it’s pretty special.”

Nulph said he is ready to dive right into the duties of running the Cavaliers athletic program.

The winter sports season for boys and girls basketball, boys and girls swimming and boys and girls wrestling began Nov. 15 with the start of official preseason practices and then Nov. 29 with the first competitions.

“I am not just a football guy anymore,” Nulph said. “I am an athletics guy now. I think that is what I am most excited about, getting immersed with the culture of Kiski Area basketball, wrestling and swimming and every other sport. I am getting thrown right in, which is what I wanted.”

District assistant superintendent Dr. Jason Lohr, who helped oversee the search for the new athletic director, said he is pleased with bringing Nulph aboard.

“Jake has been a great communicator with his experiences, and I think he will do great things to help Kiski Area athletics grow and continue to be successful,” he said. “We know and he knows he’s going to have a lot of good support coming into this position.”

Nulph also will be actively involved with hiring a new football coach in the wake of Sam Albert’s resignation from position Nov. 20. That process, Lohr said, is expected to ramp up after Nulph gets settled.

Nulph stressed that he is the athletic director solely and will not be a candidate for the football coach.

“(Finding the next Kiski Area football coach) is something that is going to be at the top of my list,” he said. “Dr. Lohr and I talked about that, and it was something he wanted me to tackle immediately.”

Nulph’s coaching tenure at Edinboro was delayed as the 2020 season was canceled because of the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.

He had to wait to get his first win with the Fighting Scots, a 17-7 triumph over Seton Hill on Oct. 2, 2021.

This fall, Edinboro finished 3-8 overall and 2-4 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. He compiled a 15-28 record in four seasons with the Fighting Scots.

His calling card while at Edinboro and in previous collegiate coaching positions has been to heavily recruit the Alle-Kiski Valley, so his familiarity with the area is extensive beyond his time as an athlete at Apollo-Ridge.

“He’s been in every athletic office in the area recruiting for more than 20 years,” Lohr said.

This past season, 11 graduates from A-K Valley schools were on the Edinboro football roster.

Before arriving at Edinboro, Nulph served single seasons as the defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator at Duquesne (2018) and IUP (2019).

In his one season with the Dukes, he helped the team finish with a 9-4 record, capture the Northeast Conference championship and qualify for the FCS (formerly Division I-AA) playoffs.

Nulph’s collegiate football journey began as a graduate assistant in charge of the running backs at Robert Morris in 2006.

He also has made stops at Allegheny College (2009), St. Francis (Pa.) (2010-2013), and Westminster College (2014-17).

Nulph’s hire at Kiski concludes a hiring process which initially began over the summer with the posting of the position after John Peterman, the Cavaliers AD since 2017, retired June 30.

He agreed to stay on as a non-district employee as the district decided how to move forward.

To keep the integrity of the process intact, Lohr said the decision was made to halt it before the summer ended. It resumed when the position was posted for about three weeks for additional candidates to apply prior to a Nov. 13 deadline.

That is when the interview portion of the process took over leading up to a recommendation of Nulph to the board for Monday’s vote.

Peterman’s last day of his extended interim appointment was Nov. 15.

High school principal Matt Smith, who previously served as the athletic director at Latrobe, took over the reins of Cavalier athletics on an interim basis to guide the programs through the first couple of weeks of the winter season.

“John agreed to stay on with the full knowledge of everyone that the intention was to move forward and find a full-time athletic director,” Lohr said.

“His last day was his decision, and it was a mutual agreement between us and him. He really did a lot to help us get through the fall season to where we are in a positive place moving forward.

“We’re thankful for Matt and his experience in working with the coaches and athletes over the last couple of weeks. It’s been a team effort.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Kiski Area