By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
HUNTSVILLE - Tom Posey’s football coaching career has taken him across the country and around the world.
But few could ever imagine the 1987 Danville graduate ever stepping onto the football field at the University of Kentucky’s Rupp Arena, where roundball rules.
But that’s where Posey works these days, serving as an assistant coach for the Lexington Horsemen in Arena2.
Posey is currently coaching the Horsemen offensive linemen and the team’s special teams unit, a position he held last year with the Huntington (W. Va.) Heroes in the American Indoor Football Association before joining Lexington for the current season.
A faster game played in smaller arena’s during the late spring and early summer, af2 is played on 50-yard fields with eight players. In a major difference from standard professional leagues, arena football allows one receiver to be in forward motion before the snap.
The games can be high-scoring affairs with teams usually combining for 100 points or more, a big change from Posey’s Mason County Middle School team that won its league championship this fall.
But the bottom line for Posey is that the game is still football, even if its played on a short field in hockey or basketball arenas.
The move up from AIFA football is another step for Posey on the coaching ladder. It also marks another level of experience for Posey, who currently teaches and coaches football at Mason County Middle School.
This fall, Posey will be the special teams coordinator at Kentucky Christian, an NAIA program that will be entering its second season of competition this fall.
In its ninth season and with a 29-team membership, af2 serves as a vehicle to bring arena football to small-to-midsize cities.
A 64-48 loss to Tennessee Valley dropped the Horsemen into a tie with second-place Louisville in the division, but the team has performed well in its first season.
Posey still has strong ties to the local area, taking several prep football players to New Zealand and Australia each year for the DownUnder Bowl, an organization that gives high school players the opportunity to play in games outside the country.
He will take four players to the exhibition games in July, including Priceville’s Jonathan Watts.
Posey has drawn plenty of attention around arena football coaching circles. Last year, he helped lead the Huntington Heroes to a 10-7 mark in AIFA with a third place finish in the division.
He was then chosen to represent the Heroes in the league’s all-star game in Florence, S.C.
That success certainly solidified his standing as an up-and-coming coach in professional football.
Now he is a step higher in the arena football ranks seeking to help Lexington win a league championship in its first season in af2.