Leroy Kinard’s coaching comeback fuels Innovation’s 4-0 start | Football Insider

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Three years ago, Leroy Kinard was somewhat of an exiled football coach. He was tossed aside by the The First Academy, which was looking to go in a different direction and hired Jeff Conaway from Arkansas to build what has become a powerhouse program.

Kinard resigned as head coach after 16 years at the Orlando private school. As is the Kinard way, he expressed no sour grapes. He stayed in his teaching role at TFA while watching his daughter Jordyn Kinard enjoy her senior year.

Kinard said that year without football was one of his most enjoyable. He got to spend it with Jordyn, a performing arts student in the TFA Classical School. He watched her earn singer of the year and Homecoming queen, and perform at the Dr. Phillips Center. Jordyn is now part of the James Madison University theatre arts program.

He also had more time to spend with Rebekah, his wife. They’ll celebrate 30 years of marriage in November.

“At TFA, I had a choice of whether to stay on campus. I decided to stay for my daughter’s senior year and she had a great senior year,” Kinard said. “I got a chance to take her to school every day. It was a bonding time for us and so it ended up being a really good thing. It rejuvenated me a little bit and I got an opportunity to relax.”

He also spent some of the year off from coaching in a reflective mode, looking back on 13 years of playoff qualifications at TFA and looking ahead to what could make him a better coach. He visited practices at Jones and Edgewater, among others, to see what successful coaches were doing. He was looking to learn. He was an old dog, but he knew there were plenty of other tricks out there.

When Innovation, a new Orange County public school, opened in the Lake Nona area, Kinard was hired to launch the start-up program. After the group of rag-tag guys first came together in the summer of 2024, he may have questioned his job choice.

“Oh my gosh, after the first day of practice, I was just hoping we were going to be able to line up,” Kinard said. “The school wasn’t even built yet and we practiced at Innovation Middle School and the field was full of holes.”

FHSAA Independent Football League Standings

The program has grown up, and Innovation’s administration looks genius now. In the third season, Kinard has the Bulls rolling along at 4-0 and leading the new FHSAA Independent Football League as a frontrunner in the Pool A North Division. In the school’s first 24 football games, the Bulls have won 17.

“Obviously I feel like we have been blessed,” Kinard said. “We just really have tried to make sure we do things that are absolutely sound. We don’t try to gamble a lot, or gimmick people a lot. Our philosophy is that more games are lost than are won.

“Rule No. 1 is do not beat yourself. If you can accomplish Rule No. 1. … then you have a chance in every football game. In the majority of games we play, the talent is going to be fairly close, so if we don’t beat ourselves, then we have a chance. Things have worked out for us and I don’t think that’s luck.”

Quarterback Kaleb Bielski (40-of-63 passing, 617 yards, 10 TDs) has grown from that skinny little sophomore who showed up in 2024 to be a team leader. He gives Kinard someone around which to build a program. Players like junior receiver Duke Meckstroth (18 catches, 261 yards, 2 TDs) and defenders like 6-foot-5 defensive end Grant Kirwan-Gaston and defensive tackle James Mindrup (16 tackles each) have made the Bulls a force.

“Obviously we’re happy to be where we are, but it’s just four games in,” Kinard said. “We haven’t won anything yet. It’s like playing golf and you are 1-under at the turn. Well, it’s good to be 1-under at the turn, but you can shoot plus-7 on the backside. So that’s how we’re gonna treat it.”

Chris Hays can be found on X.com@OS_ChrisHays.

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