Perry Thomas enters his first season as Head Coach of Tiger Football after a very successful career in the Kentucky High School ranks.

Over the past sixteen seasons, his teams have participated in the Kentucky State High School Football Play-offs each year that he has been a head coach.  He has a career record of 133-64.  His coaching career began in 1986 as a volunteer assistant at Allen County-Scottsville High School and he was an assistant coach for the Patriots in 1987.  He then became defensive coordinator at Campbellsville High School from 1988-1991.

Over the past eight seasons Thomas has guided the Blue Tornado of Paducah Tilghman High School to a 70-31 record, including eight playoff appearances, five district championships, two regional championships and two state semi-final appearances.  His 2007 team finished the season 9-5 and was eliminated in the state semi-finals 17-14 on a last second field goal by eventual Kentucky State Champion Louisville Central High School.

 

From 1992 through 1999 he was the head coach at Campbellsville High School where he compiled a 63-33 record.  Thomas led the Eagle program to eight straight playoff appearances and had two district and one regional championship along with one state semi-final appearance.

 

Thomas has been named District and/or Region Coach of the Year nine times during his career and was named the 1993 and 1997 Kentucky Class A Coach of the Year by the Courier-Journal.  He is a five-time coaching staff member of the Kentucky vs. Tennessee All-Star Team and was the Head Coach of the Kentucky All-Stars in 2006.  Thomas was also a National Finalist for the American Football Coaches Association "Power of Influence" Award in 2005 and 2006 and received the Joe Russell Distinguished Leadership Award from the Western Kentucky Conference in 2003 and 2006.

Ron Barnard is in his first season as Assistant Head Coach.  He will also serve as the teams Special Teams Coordinator and Outside Linebackers Coach.

Barnard, originally from Sturgis, Kentucky, played at Murray State University and began his coaching career at Murray State in 1992 as a Tight Ends coach. 

In 1993 he coached at Mayfield High School for the Class 2A Kentucky State High School Championship team and then became the Defensive Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach at Graves County from 1994-97.   From there he held the same position at Mercer County High School in 1997-98 and returned to Graves County in the same capacity from 1998-2001.  He joined Coach Perry Thomas' staff at Paducah Tilghman High School in 2002 where he remained as Assistant Head Coach until coming to Campbellsville.

He and his wife Michelle have three children, Zach, Alyssa Brooke and Elijah Cole Barnard.

Kenneth Burress is in his second season on the Tiger staff and serves as Defensive Backs and Speed/Strength Coach.

Burress came to Campbellsville at the start of the 2007 season after being the Assistant Coach at Harmony Prep Community School in Ohio and has also served on the staff of Indiana State University along with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.

He graduated from Bowling Green University in Ohio where he played collegiately for four seasons.  He resides in Campbellsville with his wife Kim.

Jim Hardy begins his sixth year on the Tiger coaching staff.  He will serve as Running Backs Coach and Eligibility and Equipment Coordinator.

Before coming to Campbellsville, Hardy spent 18 seasons coaching at Campbellsville High School as position coach, Offensive Coordinator and Head Coach of the Eagele.

A lifelong resident of Campbellsville, Jim and his wife Lorri have two children, Jackie and Tyler.

David Payne begins his 10th season as a part of the Campbellsville University Football coaching staff and is the Defensive Line Coach.

Payne coached Kentucky High School football for 20 years before joining the C.U. staff.  He spent five years at Larue County and 15 years at Campbellsville. He is a retired teacher and former Assistant Principal at Campbellsville High.

The Glasgow, Kentucky native is a 1973 graduate of Western Kentucky University where he played for legendary coach Jimmy Fiex from 1970 to 1973.

Payne and his wife Tammy have three daughters, Heather Bauer, Kendra Benningfield and Courtney Payne along with one grandson, Jake Bauer.

Chris Pardue begins his first season Offensive Coordinator for Tiger football.

Pardue has been the Head Coach at Boyle County (KY) High School for the past three seasons and was the Offensive Coordinator for the Rebels during their unprecedented five straight Kentucky State Championships.  He has been at Boyle County for fifteen seasons and also coached for eight years at Allen-County Scottsville (KY) High School and is a former Graduate Assistant at Murray State University.

 

Stockton, a former All-American at Western Kentucky University, comes to Campbellsville after two seasons at Susquehanna (PA) University where he has coached Split Ends and was J.V. Head Coach. 

Previous high school coaching stints are Central Hardin High school before becoming Offensive Coordinator at NORTH HARDIN HIGH SCHOOL. 

From his WKU playing career, Stockton still holds the NCAA Division I-AA record for all-purpose yards in a game with 467 as well as the school single-game record for receiving yards with 276.  A three-time Division I-AA All-American, he is also the Hilltoppers' career leader in kick return (2,302) and all-purpose (5,280) yards.