Jake Kennedy enters his first season at Otterbein in 2025 and serves as the team's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
He came Otterbein from Bellefontaine High School in Bellefontaine, Ohio, where he taught marketing and served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the football team.
A Bellefontaine native, Kennedy's coaching tenure at BHS began in May 2020. In 2022, he helped lead the team to an 8-3 record and conference championship. The Chieftains boasted the top offense in the conference that year, amassing 4,129 total yards and 363 points en route to earning seven All-Conference selections.
The success continued in 2023, as the Chieftains broke 10 school records, including total yards of offense (5,219) and points (493) in a season, and advanced to the regional semifinals as part of an 11-3 campaign with seven All-Conference honorees.
Kennedy has also assisted in the development of quarterback Tavien St. Clair, who was recently named the Marcus Dupree National Player of the Year after throwing for 2,536 yards and accounting for 38 total touchdowns as a senior this past fall. St. Clair was the No. 1-ranked 2025 high school football player by Rivals.com and earned multiple All-State accolades in high school. He combined for 5,536 yards and 62 touchdowns through the air as a sophomore and junior.
Kennedy coached collegiately at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, serving as the Tigers' running backs coach in 2019 as they posted a 7-3 record and won the NCAC title. He coached two All-Conference running backs, including Offensive MVP Jaheem Washington.
After the 2019 season, Kennedy paused his coaching career to play professionally overseas for the Graz Giants of the Austrian Football League, where he was a finalist for MVP in 2019, and the New Yorker Lions of the German Football League from 2020 to 2021.
Kennedy graduated with a business management degree in 2019 from Wittenberg, where he was a three-year starter at quarterback and two-year captain for the football team. During his time at Wittenberg, the Tigers posted a combined 29-4 record and won three conference championships while he accounted for 8,700 total yards and 93 touchdowns. He holds program records for career passing yards (7,949) and passing touchdowns (75) and passing touchdowns in a game (7).
Kennedy earned an education licensure from Bowling Green State University in 2024 and is currently working toward a master's degree in curriculum and instruction from Western Governors University.
