Pyrce Taylor has been named the Barberton High School football coach.
The Barberton Board of Education approved the hiring of Taylor to lead the Magics football team during a Jan. 14 meeting. Taylor was the offensive coordinator at Youngstown Chaney High School under coach Seth Antram during the 2025 football season.
Taylor, 27, attended Akron Public Schools and is a graduate of STEM High School and Kent State University. He is an academic advisor at Kent State University, where he provides holistic support to undergraduate students through individualized academic planning, course selection, major exploration and degree progression.
“I am honored and grateful for the opportunity to lead Barberton football,” Taylor said in a statement. “Being on this journey with our student-athletes means a great deal to me, and I am excited to build a disciplined, relationship-driven program focused on developing young men and representing Barberton with integrity on and off the field. I can’t wait to get to work serving our student-athletes, our school, and the Barberton community.”
Taylor was a four-year letter winner and three-year starter quarterback at Buchtel High School for former Griffins coach Ricky Powers from 2013-2016, and then was a reserve player at Kent State University from 2017-2019. After his playing career, he became a graduate assistant from 2020-22 for former Kent State coach Sean Lewis. Powers is now the Lyndhurst Brush football coach and Lewis is the coach at San Diego State University.
Taylor, a 2017 STEM High School graduate, earned All-Northeast Inland District honors in Division III as a senior quarterback in 2016 at Buchtel. Taylor helped Buchtel win two City Series championships and post records of 6-4 in 2014, 9-2 in 2015 and 4-6 in 2016.
Taylor worked with quarterbacks at Kent State, including during the 2021 season when Golden Flashes QB Dustin Crum was named the 2021 Mid-American Conference Player of the Year. Taylor was in his graduate coaching position role when the Golden Flashes went to the 2021 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl and finished with a 7-7 overall record and a 6-2 mark in the MAC.
“Dustin Crum was an amazing player, and I was happy to play with him and coach him,” Taylor said.
Additionally, Taylor has done private training for youth and high school football players, specializing in training quarterbacks, such future All-Ohioans DaOne Owens, Gabriel Mansel and Ryan Taylor. Owens played at Copley and Massillon, Mansel played at STVM and Copley and Ryan Taylor played QB at STVM and Rocky River.
Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Ohio high school football coaching news, Barberton hires Pyrce Taylor
Reporting by Michael Beaven, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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