MILFORD, Ohio -- Mount St. Joseph assistant coach and former longtime high school football coach Tom Grippa has been named the Milford High School head football coach.
Grippa, who has 173 career high school head coaching wins, is expected to be officially approved by the Board of Education Thursday night. He is also expected to be approved as a physical education teacher at Milford Junior High starting next fall.
“We are ecstatic to be able to recommend to our school board a coach of Tom Grippa’s stature to lead our football program,” Milford athletic director Mark Trout said. “Coach Grippa has a proven track record of success in building winning programs at some of the top schools in the city and we are confident he will continue that success at Milford. We feel that he is the right fit at the right time to lead our football program going forward.”
Grippa served as the Mount St. Joseph offensive coordinator, quarterback coach and director of summer camps since 2013. He also teaches physical education at Colerain High School.
Prior to MSJ, Grippa had head coaching stops at La Salle, Fairfield and Elder.
Grippa was most recently at La Salle, a program he took over in 2002. He led the Lancers to four playoff appearances. La Salle shared the GCL South title with Moeller in 2010. He had an overall record of 59-44.
Grippa got his head coaching start at Elder in 1987. He was 84-24 including five playoff appearances, five Greater Cincinnati League titles and a regional title in 1996, according to a news release. (The GCL was named the Greater Catholic League starting in the 1990-91 school year).
Grippa inherited a program that had two straight losing seasons before he arrived in Price Hill.
At Fairfield, the Indians won six games in the three years prior to his arrival. By his third year, Fairfield captured a GMC title and made a playoff appearance.
Grippa has won numerous coaching awards. He has coached three high school All-Americans, four players that were named Ohio’s player of the year and 39 individuals that have received Division I football scholarships.
Grippa and his wife Kathy have been married for 37 years and are the parents of three children, Nicole, Jimmy and Joe. They also have two grandchildren.
Grippa replaces Shane Elkin. Milford announced in November Elkin would not return after having coached the Eagles since 2010.
Milford was 2-8 this past season. Elkin had a 20-50 record in seven seasons. Offensive coordinator Shane Bartholomew was the interim head coach since mid-November.
Grippa, a former football and baseball standout at Reading, was a four-year varsity letterwinner and two-year starter in baseball at the College of Wooster (1975-78). He was a four-year football starter and team captain in both sports.
