Jason Brown’s departure from the Bellefontaine football team was a short one.
Brown stepped down in December after four years as the Chieftains’ head coach, his second stint with the program.
However, Brown’s replacement, Aaron Peitsmeyer, resigned Feb. 1 without ever coaching a game.
That led the school to initiate a search for a new coach. In the end, Brown decided to return to the helm.
In addition to making the decision to stay on as the Chiefs’ head coach, the school announced this week that Brown has decided to step away from his position as high school principal and will take over as the Chieftain Pride Lab coordinator beginning with the 2024-25 school year.
A special board meeting was called for Thursday morning to act on those changes.
Brown’s return will provide continuity and cohesion for a Chieftain program coming off an historic 2023 season.
The Chiefs went 11-3 and won three playoff games for the first time in program history. They beat John Glenn, London and Granville before falling to eventual state runner-up Bishop Watterson 19-13 in the Division III regional championship.
Bellefontaine will lose a talented group of players to graduation, but the Chiefs do return quarterback Tavien St. Clair, who is considered by recruiting services to be one of the top signal callers in the country. He has committed to play at Ohio State.