STEPPING AWAY
Klemp resigns as Hawks’ head football coach
South Hamilton head football coach Corey Klemp talks to his team on the field for the final time following a Class 1A playoff loss last fall. After seven seasons in charge of the program, Klemp resigned his position recently. He leaves with a 38-26 overall record and four state playoffs appearances. DFJ file photo/Angela Hewitt
JEWELL — When Corey Klemp took control of the South Hamilton football program in the spring of 2015, it was more out of a sense of loyalty to the school than a desire to actually do the job.
Seven years later, he can’t imagine his life without the South Hamilton football program. Still, family comes first.
Klemp has stepped down as South Hamilton’s head football coach, pending the school board’s success in finding a suitable replacement. Klemp’s son, former Class 1A Player of the Year Logan Klemp, will be a senior on the Iowa football team this fall and he says that has to take priority in the present.
“The decision was heart-wrenching and it wasn’t something that I arrived at lightly by any means,” Klemp said. “Last year we missed a couple of Logan’s road games and with this potentially being his last year, there are three or so road games that would be hard to get to. I want to look back in 15 years and not regret anything.
“Members of the coaching staff and people that talked to me about it said that if I had to miss a couple Friday games that I could do that, but that’s never been the culture of our program.”
The Klemp family — (left to right) Amy, Logan, Corey and Avery — on the day Logan Klemp signed to play football at Iowa in February of 2018. Corey Klemp said his desire to watch Logan play his senior season at Iowa was the primary reason that he decided to resign as South Hamilton’s football coach. DFJ file photo/Troy Banning
Klemp was asked to take over the program late in the 2015 school year and he admits he had some reluctance at the time. But over the past seven seasons, he’s molded the program into one of family and along the way he found a passion for coaching the sport that he didn’t realize he possessed prior to taking over.
It’s been a journey that he’s enjoyed and says he’ll treasure forever.
“That first year, I was kind of pushed into it and it wasn’t something I was even sure I wanted to do,” Klemp, who put together a
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- South Hamilton head football coach Corey Klemp talks to his team on the field for the final time following a Class 1A playoff loss last fall. After seven seasons in charge of the program, Klemp resigned his position recently. He leaves with a 38-26 overall record and four state playoffs appearances. DFJ file photo/Angela Hewitt
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- The Klemp family — (left to right) Amy, Logan, Corey and Avery — on the day Logan Klemp signed to play football at Iowa in February of 2018. Corey Klemp said his desire to watch Logan play his senior season at Iowa was the primary reason that he decided to resign as South Hamilton’s football coach. DFJ file photo/Troy Banning
South Hamilton didn’t realize overnight success during Klemp’s tenure, but, eventually, became a formidable program, one that reached the state playoffs four times.
The Hawks were 2-12 in Klemp’s first 14 games as head coach, but a three-game winning streak at the end of the 2016 campaign served as a springboard. South Hamilton went 36-14 over Klemp’s final 50 games as the head coach, including an 7-0 regular season — the first unbeaten regular season in program history — in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season.
South Hamilton was 22-8 at home under Klemp.
“We won 22 of our last 24 home games, made the state playoffs four of the seven years … when you realize that you think, wow, that was pretty cool,” Klemp said. “But the relationships built with the kids and the relationships built with the coaching staff, that’s the stuff you can’t put a price tag on.”
Klemp says he’d like to see South Hamilton stay inside the family, so to speak, with his successor.
“I’m hopeful it gets filled from within (the current coaching staff), but that’s not certain yet,” he said. “That’s my hope that someone from within can keep things rolling.”