He’s a man of many facets.  Lancaster High School Assistant Principal, Josh Kinniard reveals interests, talents, and sides of his life in this Eye of the Gale Staff Spotlight.  He was nominated by another administrator, Andrew Knuckles, who said that Kinniard is a champion in the video game, NCAA 25.

“I nominated Mr. Kinniard because he has kept us posted on his dominance daily and I feel that it was worth our school community learning about. He works extremely hard during the school day, but it is neat that he can invest time in something at a championship level. When Cino sent something out for staff and student accomplishments, I immediately thought of Mr. Kinniard’s recent accomplishments,” said Knuckles.

Mr. Kinniard, who played four years of football at Capital University, explained how the video game works.

“I play in a game mode of NCAA called dynasty where you are essentially the head coach and control every component of a football program at the collegiate level. I have experienced significantly more success than the other human players in the dynasty mode. I have four national championships and the others have zero national championships combined,” said Kinniard.

“As a result of this success other players have become frustrated and lobbied to the commissioner to change some rules/settings to try and promote more parity within the league so that it is not so lopsided and more competitive,” he said.

LHS Head football coach Bryan Schoonover said that he thinks Kinniard’s success is his ability to tune out all of his haters.

“Millions of people play online video games. With his level of success, people are trying to constantly go after him.  For many people that would be tough, discouraging, and a major distraction, but not Mr. Kinniard.  He just shuts all that down and gets right back to work. I just think his level of mental toughness might be unmatched” said Schoonover.

Schoonover went on to say that the support Kinniard gets from his family, friends, and colleagues has also contributed to the championships he has won.

“His professional colleagues are constantly supporting him to be better at video games, his online friends are supporting him to be better at video games, and though sometimes it may seem like she isn’t beaming with pride, his wife really supports his video gaming, as well.  She’s seen all the ups and downs as a National Video Game Football Champion could possibly go through, and is still by his side. Not even Nick Saban could handle the type of success Mr. Kinniard has had, and still help run LHS at a high level,” he said.

For context, Saban is one of the most accomplished and decorated coaches in history and is currently a college football analyst for ESPN (Hofheimer).

Most teens can relate to Kinniards love of video games. According to the Pew Research Center, “Video games are a part of daily teen life. 85% of U.S. teens report playing video games, and 41% say they play them at least once a day. Four-in-ten identify as a gamer” (Gottfried and Sidoti).  Kinniard, too, describes himself as a gamer.

“I have enjoyed playing video games since I was in elementary school and have grown up playing a variety of games on various consoles and on CPU as well. I still continue to game on my PS5 and also have a gaming CPU,” he said.

“Video games are an outlet for me, especially in the winter months. They provide me with entertainment and allow me to connect with sports such as racing and football which I enjoy watching and attending in real life. I think video games can provide children and adults with an entertainment component and outlet when they are utilized in moderation,”  he said.

While most at LHS know Kinniard as an administrator, it is interesting to note that he has diverse interests in his life.

“I enjoy traveling,particularly to Caribbean islands, golfing, boating (I have a pontoon boat and live on a canal on Buckeye Lake,) football, Indycar and sports car racing,” he said.

“I have two little dogs, Ted and Scottie, who are poodle mixes. I am also a co-owner in a family-owned business called Valley Zipline Tours that my dad and brother started. I work there on some weekends and throughout the summer,” said Kinniard.

Administrative Assistant Cindy Van Horn is one person at LHS who knows Kinniard  well.

“He has a great sense of humor, great leadership qualities, and is helpful to staff and students,” she said.
As for Kinniard’s success with NCAA 25, Van Horn summed it up in two words.

“It’s awesome,” she said.