Jason Perry
Jason Perry is a teacher, assistant athletics director and sports information director at Columbus North High School, and now, he has an additional role for the foreseeable future: interim head football coach.
Perry was appointed Friday to fill the void created when Tim Bless, who had been the Bull Dogs coach for the past 22 years, resigned on Wednesday. Perry will lead the program on an interim bases until a new coach is hired.
“We know it’s a little bit late in the game to be finding a new head coach, but they’ve already started the search for a new head coach,” Perry said. “We hope to have a new head coach in place sometime this summer so the coach can be prepared for the fall.”
Perry plans to begin meeting with the staff and players over the next few days.
“I know it will be an adjustment for the team to have me as a new captain of the ship, but I will do all I can to make the transition as comfortable and smooth for everyone as possible,” Perry said in a news release. “I know these players will continue the proud tradition of Bull Dog football, and I’m honored to do my part to help them with that.”
After being a head varsity coach in Minnesota for five years, Perry was an assistant on Bless’ staff at North from 2005-18. He coached in the PAAL program in 2019 and has been the head coach at Northside Middle School the past two years.
“We knew that we needed someone with experience to help with the transition to a new head coach,” North athletics director Brian Lewis said. “We needed someone familiar with the program, the staff and the players and coach Perry fit that role perfectly.”
“We feel fortunate to have coach Perry on our team,” North principal David Clark added. “He has filled the role of interim in the past when needed and did an outstanding job. Having a person of coach Perry’s quality allows us to begin the process of searching for a full-time coach with confidence that we’ll not miss a beat of offseason conditioning and strength drills or player development.”
Bless went 147-95 in his 22 years at North and won regional championships in 2004, 2006 and 2007. He led the Bull Dogs to undefeated Conference Indiana championships the past two seasons.
“My goal is not to come in and upset the apple cart,” Perry said. “We’ve got a great thing going in the Columbus North football program, and I just want to do my part to help that continue. Having someone to oversee the administrative components of the program will allow the rest of the coaches to do what they do well — develop and build relationships with the players. I’ll do my best to offer them support and take things off their plates.
“Coach Bless already had a great plan in place for the remainder of this spring and into the summer,” he added. “We intend to be consistent with the plans that are already in place as a search for the next head coach at Columbus North takes place.”
