Former trainer for professional athletes hired as new high school football coach
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IDAHO FALLS – After weeks of interviewing candidates, North Fremont High School has a new varsity football coach.
Fremont County Joint School District 215 announced Keith Director as the new head coach in a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon.
“Keith comes to North Fremont with a wealth of experience in coaching and training, and we are excited for him to join our team!” the district wrote.
Director will be transitioning into his new role over the next several weeks. Football season gets underway in August and Director tells EastIdahoNews.com he’s excited to get to work.
“I’m so excited to bring my experience to a district that is passionate about its football team,” Director says. “I’m over the top excited and I’m so ready to put everything I have into this.”
He’s also the head coach for the 14U North Fremont Huskies baseball team through Idaho Select.
Director replaces the previous coach, Ben Lenz, who stepped down earlier this year.
Director, 51, lives in Chester and recently moved to the area after a long career working with professional athletes in New Orleans, Louisiana.
He owned his own gym and worked as a personal trainer. His clients included numerous major league baseball and NFL football players, including several New Orleans Saints players and its former coach, Sean Payton.
Hurricane Ida tore the roof off his building in 2021, the last in a long line of natural disasters that prompted him to move out west.
“I was getting a little bit tired of New Orleans. I had never seen a mountain, I had never seen snow,” Director explains. “I checked out different spots on the map and narrowed it down to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.”
He moved to Montana initially, where he met his girlfriend, Andrea, from Chester. Ultimately, he moved to Idaho to be closer to her.
He opened Director Boxing & Training earlier this year at a private gym he and Andrea built on their property. Since coming to eastern Idaho, he’s picked up 20 clients, eight of which are student athletes at North Fremont High School. He works with people of all skill levels. See what his training sessions are like in the video above.
Watching students grow and progress in their athletic ability is rewarding for him and he’s thrilled to play a more prominent role as the head football coach.
“It’s extremely humbling and I’m so thankful and pumped to bring a new kind of energy (to the football program),” says Director.
Director will begin providing weekly boxing training to early onset Parkinson’s patients next month through a partnership with a local nonprofit. Lift Where You Stand, owned by Empire Strength and Fitness in Idaho Falls, was formed last year to help patients feel “a sense of empowerment over their condition.”
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Director says there’s a lot of medical research showing boxing has a lot of benefits for people with Parkinson’s Disease.
“In boxing, everything is repetitive. For someone who has trouble with balance, memory … the act of doing something over and over again the same way is such a good thing for the brain,” he says.
The physical aspect helps improve motor function, says Director, and it helps sharpen physical and mental ability.
Director buys gym equipment from Curtis Bishop, who is part-owner at Empire Strength and Fitness. When Bishop approached him about providing boxing training for people with Parkinson’s, Director was on board with it.
“He’s the perfect coach for this because he’s got the same values we have. He’s got 20 years experience and he wants to give back,” says Bishop. “It’s a perfect fit.”
Weekly boxing sessions will be held inside Empire Strength and Fitness at 1539 Piper Street in Idaho Falls. It will start May 11 at 1:30 p.m. Those with Parkinson’s who’d like to participate can call Bishop at (208) 569-9362 or email empirestrengthandfitness@gmail.com.
To sign up for training sessions with Director, visit the gym’s Instagram page or message Director on Facebook. You can also send an email to directorboxingidaho@gmail.com.
