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Bloom-Carroll Coach Wade Bartholomew Explains Decision to Leave Bulldogs

By Danny Fogarty, 12/09/21, 1:30PM EST

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Photo Credit/@BloomCarrollLSD, Twitter

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Bloom-Carroll's Wade Bartholomew announced Wednesday in a team meeting that he is stepping down from head coach of the Bulldogs to pursue a career in college football.

Bartholomew said he has always wanted to coach beyond high school and that this decision was something he has known for some time.

"Ultimately, I wanted to try to go to the college level," Bartholomew said. "I kind of had a plan almost all year long that this was most likely what I was going to do. It wasn't definitive, but it was definitely a thought process."

Bartholomew has had immense success with the Bulldogs posting a 68-25 record over eight seasons.  He also led Bloom-Carroll to six postseason appearances, four MSL-Buckeyes titles, and two State Final Four births.

Although the pursuit of a career coaching college football has been something always on Bartholomew's mind, he still had a full commitment to his team during the 2021 season.

This was backed by a 14-1 record and losing to Clinton-Massie just a game away from the Division IV State Championship.

Bartholomew said he is proud to have finished off his last season with success and glad to have brought that to such a talented class of seniors.

"This class has been unbelievable all the way through with the accountability, commitment, leadership that they have," Batholomew said. "I was super excited for them more than anything, honestly."

As of yet, Bartholomew said he does not have any offers to any schools or any college in mind he would like to work for.

Also, while he has thought of this plan throughout the season, he did not want to start looking for other positions until after the playoffs.

Bartholomew said he does not expect particular offers to come his way but rather that he will need to obtain a job through his own work.

"I expect myself to have to go out and earn a job just like everybody else," Batholomew said. " I want to earn this the way that it should be done like everybody else."

Bartholomew first took the head coaching job at Bloom-Carroll in 2014.

That season, the Bulldogs went just 4-6 with little hope of becoming anything spectacular.

Eight seasons later, Bloom-Carroll has become a perennial powerhouse in Division IV led by its insurmountable defense which has given up less than seven points per game in the last two seasons.

Bartholomew said he is proud of how his teams have been successful not only for the players and coaches but for the fans in the area as well.

"When we first got here, maybe making the playoffs and getting beat was kind of the thought process," Bartholomew said, "and then now if you look now at how the community feels, what our program should be, it's a totally different expectation."

 

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