On Tuesday, February 10th, former Silver Creek head coach Dave Papenhaus was hired as the Seymour Owls’ football head coach. Papenhaus will take over as the 19th head coach in Seymour football history, and he will be looking to start a new era of Seymour football.

Papenhaus will fill the vacancy left by Tyson Moore, who resigned after leading the Owls to a 25-36 record over six seasons. Moore left a positive impact on Seymour’s program and school, but high school coaching can be a tough business. Over Papenhaus’s seven-season run as head coach at Silver Creek, he compiled a 41-30 record, including the 2020 season, where he led the Dragons to a 9-1 record and a Mid-Southern Conference title.

Seymour’s football program has a lot of work to be done. Here’s what Papenhaus had to say about what he would do. “The biggest glaring thing is we’ve got to get the numbers up,” Papenhaus said. “It was a pretty small roster (in 2025). Watching the last seven years, we’ve got a bunch of tough, hard-nosed, physical kids. We’ve got to build off of that and really build an identity of toughness and being able to run the football when we want to.” -Tribtown.com

Here’s what Seymour athletic director Kirk Manns had to say about Papenhaus. “Dave definitely stood out,” Manns said. “He did a really nice job for Silver Creek. That program is not very old, so he’s got a proven history of being able to build programs. That’s something that I’m very interested in, to watch him build out the program and build our numbers. He’s very experienced and has had success at the head coaching level. He gets education-based athletics and sees what it does for young men. I’m excited to have him join our Seymour family.” -Tribtown.com

As a current senior at Seymour High School, here are my thoughts on the new hire. I already like how Papenhaus has introduced himself. He didn’t guarantee state championships or immediate success, as that’s not what the Seymour football program needs. Papenhaus mentioned the importance of youth football leagues, which are the feeder of talent to the high school. Everyone at Seymour is very excited to see what Coach Papenhaus will do in the future.

Best of luck to Coach Papenhaus for his future with the Seymour Owls football program.

Owls Will.