Staying In-House, Saugus High Goes With Hilton

SAUGUS — Ron Hilton, who has won a Southern Section softball championship at Saugus High, will get a chance to build a similarly successful football program at the school.

Hilton, longtime softball coach and football assistant, was named Saugus football coach Friday. He replaces Jack Bowman, who resigned after last season.

“I’m pretty excited about it.” Hilton said. “I wouldn’t coach anywhere else.”

He has coached at Saugus since coming from Baldwin Park High 20 years ago.

Hilton, 43, guided the Centurions to the Southern Section Division II softball title last spring and has run that program for 16 years.

He has served as defensive coordinator for the Saugus football team the past two years and was junior varsity coach before that. He also was an assistant to Saugus baseball Coach Doug Worley.

He is looking forward to taking charge in football, but said he will continue as softball coach and will try to do both next year.

“I’m certainly gonna try,” Hilton said. “I’ve been successful in softball, so now we’ll see how this goes. And I think the diversion could be very good, for me, and for the kids.”

A panel that included Saugus Principal Cheryl Brown and teachers, a Saugus football player, a student board member and two parents of Saugus football players, chose Hilton over Mike Kane. Kane is a former running back and assistant coach at Cal State Northridge.

Jim Bonds, a former St. Francis assistant who played quarterback at Hart High and UCLA, was a finalist before he became head coach at Alemany High.

“We had a very strong group of people to choose from but I feel really good about who we’ve got,” Brown said.

“He’s been here for so long and he’s developed a good rapport with the parents and that should help them to be more aware of what is happening. And the kids really love him.”

The feeling is mutual for Hilton, an industrial and auto-shop teacher at Saugus.

“I’ve been at Saugus for a long time now, and I really like the kids,” Hilton said.