Buchanan feels being brought ‘back home’ at Anderson County

Veteran coach calls for Bearcats to be great at what they do in chasing elusive district win

By John Herndon, 110forChrist.com

LAWRENCEBURG, Ky. – David Buchanan’s first message to the Anderson County football team this week might seem a bit confusing to someone getting a glimpse of the Bearcats from the outside.

But as Anderson gets ready for a chance to claim its first district victory since 2018 – 2018! – Buchanan reminded his team of what he’s been preaching since taking over the once-proud program in April 2023: Just get better every day.

“I sent a message to my entire team,” Buchanan said Monday morning. “This week, we don’t need to think We need to focus on getting better, running our plays the best we can run them.”

Now in his fourth year, Buchanan has compiled a 9-25 record at Anderson as it begins the four-game district gauntlet Friday at South Oldham. That record might not suggest significant improvement.

But the records don’t measure the common perception that Anderson has a chance to celebrate winning a district game for the first time since this year’s seniors were in the fourth grade. And the records don’t record that the eyes can see that Anderson is significantly better these days.

When Buchanan accepted the task of rebuilding the Anderson program, he inherited a team that had gone 8-34 in the four years following the 10-1 campaign of 2018. He was tasked with building despite being in one of Kentucky’s toughest districts, the brutal Class 5A, District 6.

“I’m proud of the improvement that has been made,” Buchanan says. “We are all doing it together. It’s the coaches, players, community and the school. I am proud of the improvement, but we are kidding ourselves if we don’t think there is still a lot of work to do.”

Indeed. While Anderson stands at 2-2. the two wins were over teams that have a combined 1-9 record midway through the season. Yet, South Oldham sports an uncharacteristic 1-4 mark and Anderson is ranked ahead of the Dragons in both the RPI and MaxPreps ratings.

Buchanan is preaching to not be fooled. “South Oldham is still a really good football team,” he says. “They have been so good for such an extended period of time that they play very good teams. Their record is deceiving.”

But the fact that Anderson is even talking in terms of grabbing a district win is evidence that Buchanan has the Bearcats on a different path. The veteran head coach loves being at Anderson and regardless of any results, Buchanan believes God has led him to the right place at the right time.

He was reminded of that belief, again, Friday night as the Bearcats were waiting out a weather delay for their Homecoming contest against Carroll County. With distant lightning prompting 90 minutes of weather delays and radar indicating a line of fierce storms bearing down, the game was finally called about 9 p.m. and will not be rescheduled.

During the delay, Buchanan was reminded of blessings bestowed through football ever since he was a 4-year-old hanging around the team at Boyle County High School where his father, John Buchanan, was head coach.

“I was walking back from talking to (Carroll County coach Dave Weston). i was incredibly frustrated. I just stopped. I was in the end zone and I said, ‘OK, God. I know you are doing something, but what is it?’ I could say God was toing a thousand things, but this is what really stood out to me. 

“I go in my office and there’s (Anderson assistant) Derek Shouse. There’s (former Anderson superintendent) Sonny Fentrees. There’s Morris Allen Stewart. My dad hired him as an assistant coach when I was four years old. And there was Monty Wilkerson from my dad’s first team at Boyle County in 1969.

“About a week ago, I told (Anderson associate head coach) Lucas Shouse if you take the last 57 years and you roll it up, all the good, and put it in one place, it’s Anderson County High School. And my experience here has been incredible. … When I saw Derek and Sonny, Morris Allen and Monty, and how those guys clicked, I thought ‘I have a guy that is from 2026 with me and guys from my father’s first team in 1969.’  Only God does that. 

“I was angry and frustrated and I stopped and said, ‘Hey God, what are you doing?’ When I walked in ans saw those four guys – my 2026 family and my 1969 family and it was one family – it really made it clear to me that, in a lot of ways, God was bringing me back home.”

Buchanan graduated from Mercer County High School and was head coach at his alma mater from 2014-2021. He’d also had a highly successful stint at Mason County before returning to his hometown. He still lives in Harrodsburg but feels Anderson County is where God has brought him “back home.”

“I have come to realize that every place I have been, I was there at that time that God wanted me to be there,” Buchanan said. “Even though it ripped my guts out every time. I have come to realize that every move where God had me going was the right place.”

On the field, that has been apparent. He turned Mason into a power and coached stars such as Chris Lofton and Dustin Grutza. At Mercer, Buchanan went 50-32 in seven seasons, reaching the second playoff round six times and regional finals twice. 

The on the field turnaround has been slower at Anderson, reflecting both the magnitude of the program’s fall and the strength of District 6. 

“Even though the results are not acceptable, the results are a distraction,” Buchanan said. “I am a better coach when I am able to focus on one day at a time. The results are like a big gorilla. They are like a gorilla that I want to shoot between the eyes, but I can’t look at the gorilla. I have to focus on getting better every day. I have to choose every day where I put my mind. I have to consciously choose every day to put my eye where it belongs and not one what is going to be detrimental.”

It’s about guiding young men to be the best they can be on the field, in the classroom and in life. 

The 2026 season has, in some ways, been pivotal. The Bearcats defeated Washington County to claim their first season opener since 2019. And a win over South Oldham would end a seven-year district drought.

When last week’s game was canceled, Buchanan immediately addressed his team, turning the focus on South Oldham. But he’s also reminded them that succss ultimately comes from keeping at what has improved Anderson football.

“Our focus should be on becoming great this week,” Buchanan said, “not the results or the ramifications of the South Oldham game.”