Bryson Bennett is the new boys' golf coach at Mason County

Bryson Bennett is the new boys' golf coach at Mason County High School.

Bennett will be the Royals' third coach in three seasons. He succeeds Jordan Gilbert who took over when Chad Mefford stepped down in August during the 2021 season. Gilbert was named the Mason County girls' basketball coach last week.

Bennett is a business and marketing teacher, FBLA advisor and assistant boys' basketball coach at Mason County High School.

Jason Butler is the new baseball coach at Mason County

Jason Butler has been hired as the Mason County Royals' new head baseball coach. He succeeds Chad Mefford who stepped down earlier this year. Here is the press release:

Mason County High School is pleased to announce Mr.  Jason Butler as our head Baseball coach. Coach Butler graduated from Mason County in 1992 where he was a multi-sport athlete, playing Baseball, Basketball, and Golf.  Coach Butler graduated from Maysville Community College in 1994 with his Associates Degree, and in 1997 from Morehead State University with a Bachelor's degree in Communications.  He has spent the last 18 years as an assistant coach for the Lady Royals Basketball team and currently serves as the head coach of the Lady Royals Golf team.

Coach Butler will be at Mason County High School on Friday, October 8th to meet with his players. A parent meeting will take place after Fall Break.

Chad Mefford is new baseball coach at Mason County High School

Chad Mefford is the new baseball coach at Mason County High School.

Mefford, an assistant baseball coach at Mason County last season, succeeds Kevin McClanahan who stepped down after one season as the Royals' coach.

Mefford, a teacher at the Mason County Intermediate School, has been the head coach of the Mason County boys' golf team since 2016. He was the head coach of the Mason County girls' golf team in 2015.

Butler signs incorrect scorecard disqualifies himself from Leachman Buick-GMC-Cadillac/KHSAA State Golf Championship

Mason County freshman Mason Butler signed an incorrect scorecard and disqualified himself from the Leachman Buick-GMC-Cadillac/KHSAA State Golf Championships after reporting the error to KHSAA officials.

Butler, playing as an individual, shot a 79 in the first round Friday at Bowling Green Country Club, but signed an incorrect scorecard for a 78 and disqualified himself.

It's a mistake golfers have made at all levels, even in the Masters.

"Just want to say how proud I am of Mason Butler, the great season he’s had, and the effort it took to overcome a 4 man playoff to make it to his first state tournament," Mason County coach Chad Mefford wrote on Facebook. " But what I’m most proud about is his honesty and the guts it took to explain to the official that he had made a mistake and signed a card with an incorrect score. He could have left it alone and been playing tomorrow ....but he did what is right and that’s why he’s going to be special on and off the course. His future is bright, as well as his team and as a coach I am proud to be apart of it."

Mason County golf coaches Jason Butler and Chad Mefford on SportsTalk

Mason County Lady Royals golf coach Jason Butler and Mason County Royals golf coach Chad Mefford were my guests on SportsTalk this morning.

Here is a link to the podcast.

Chad Mefford on SportsTalk

Mason County girls and boys golf coach Chad Mefford was my guest on SportsTalk this morning.

Here is a link to the podcast.

Chad Mefford named Mason Co. girls golf coach

Chad Mefford, the boys golf coach at Mason County, will also coach the girls golf team. Here is the press release:


Maysville--- The Mason County Athletic Department is proud to announce the hiring of Chad Mefford as the new girls golf coach.

Coach Mefford has served as the boys golf coach since 2016 and has prior experience coaching middle school boys basketball for five seasons at Mason County from 2004-2008. Mefford is a graduate of Lewis County High School where he was a 1,000-point scorer in basketball and later went on to play baseball and basketball at Berea College from 96-98 and then basketball at Shawnee State University from 99-2001.

Prior to this time at Mason County Coach Mefford taught two years at Augusta.  This year will be his 17th year in the classroom.  Coach Mefford teaches fourth grade Reading and Science at MCIS.

In making the hire, Assistant Athletic Director Chris Ullery said Coach Mefford was an easy choice to take over the girls golf program.

“Chad has already done a great job leading our boys golf program.  His ideas are unique and there is a lot of excitement surrounding boys golf in our community.  Right now, his boys team is young, but the future is very bright.  There are a lot of golfers coming up in grades 4 – 9.  You can tell they have a love for the game and are constantly working on their games.  We wanted to see the same thing from our girls program.  We wanted the program to be built around our youth and we wanted to see the number of girls golfers grow in our area and on our girls golf team.  Coach Mefford is a competitor and I love that about him.  He will work to make sure both of our programs are in great shape.  I love his ideas and I’m excited to see what he can do with both programs in the future.  Right now, for our girls program it’s about getting them started and getting them some experience.”


For further questions, please contact Ullery at 606-301-3708 or Chris.Ullery@mason.kyschools.us or Assistant Athletic Director Jeremy Hawkins at 606-748-4208 or Jeremy.Hawkins@mason.kyschools.us

Mason County golf schedules

The high school golf season begins later this month. Chad Mefford will coach the Mason County girls and boys teams. He was the boys coach last season. Here are the schedules:

Mason County Lady Royals

7/31 Scott County Invitational at Greenbrier Golf Club

8/2 Boone Classic

8/10 Notre Dame Panda Classic

8/15 Pendleton County Match

8/19 Montgomery County Invitational

8/22 Harrison County Match

8/23 Pendleton County Match

8/28 Rowan County Match

9/16 Grant County Classic

9/19 Rowan County Match

9/23 Rowan County Invitational Classic at Eagle Trace

9/26 8th Region Tournament at Northern Kentucky Golf Club

Mason County Royals

7/28 Rowan County Invitational at Eagle Trace

7/29 Greenup County Invitational at Hidden Cove

7/31 Beechwood Classic at Twin Bridges

8/1 Cooper Classic at Boone Links

8/2 Mason County/St. Patrick Invitational

8/7 Ashland Invitational at Bellefonte Country Club

8/12 Powell Country at Beechfork Golf Club

8/14 Bourbon County Match

8/17 Lewis County/Fleming County Match

8/19 Houston Oaks Practice Round 1

8/24 Fleming County/Lewis County Match

8/26 Laurel Oaks Classic

8/28 Bourbon County Match

9/2 Eagle Trace Tournament #2

9/9 Montgomery County Invitational

9/10 Grant County Junior Varsity

9/16 Grant County Tom Johnson Classic

9/23 Houston Oaks Practice Round 2

9/25 8th Region Tournament at Houston Oaks

Home matches are in bold

B.J. Knox signs with Campbellsville University

Mason County senior B.J. Knox, the 8th Region Player of the Year, signed today to play golf at Campbellsville University.

"I'm just blessed for this opportunity; I'm just ready to take advantage of it," Knox said.

"We're excited to get him, we're just hoping he can take us to the next level," Campbellsville coach Jim Ward said.

Knox was a four-year starter for the Royals and played in the state tournament all four years. 

He tied for 19th place in the state tournament his junior year when the Royals finished third in the state.

Knox was named all-region his sophomore, junior and senior seasons.

He won two tournaments and had seven top five finishes his senior season.

"I really think that he's just scratched the surface, I really do," Mason County coach Chad Mefford said. "He's a really talented kid."

Mefford took over as the Royals' coach last season and said Knox was great for him.

"He was a hard worker. He was always at practice, worked on his game, set a good example on the course for the other kids," Mefford said.

Knox said he plans to be a business major.

(Photo credit: Debby Mitchell)

Chad Mefford on SportsTalk

Mason County boys golf coach Chad Mefford was my guest on SportsTalk this morning. Here is a link to the podcast.

Will Power and Chad Mefford on SportsTalk

IndyCar driver Will Power and Mason County boys golf coach Chad Mefford were my guests on SportsTalk this morning. Here is a link to the podcast.