The Festus R-6 School District announced Friday that A.J. Ofodile Jr. was hired to be the high school’s ninth head football coach.
Ofodile spent the last four seasons as an assistant football coach under former head coach Barry Odom at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Prior to coaching the Tigers, Ofodile was head football coach at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia. In 2013, he led the Bruins to the Class 6 state championship game.
After playing tight end at Mizzou for three seasons and finishing with 73 catches for 851 yards and six touchdowns, Ofodile was drafted in the fifth round (158th overall) in the 1994 NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills. According to a story in the Baltimore Sun, he never played for the Bills after sustaining a knee injury in training camp and ended up with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1995 on their practice roster. Ofodile was released from the Steelers’ training camp in 1996 and signed with the Baltimore Ravens, where he played in 24 games in three seasons (1997-1999).
Ofodile replaced Russ Schmidt, who coached the Tigers for 13 years before resigning in November. Ofodile was also hired to teach strength and conditioning classes at the high school and he begins on July 1.