ASHLAND — Valentine’s day has come early in Ashland.
On Monday, the Ashland City Schools Board of Education unanimously decided to hire Scott Valentine as the district’s head varsity football coach.
Valentine previously served as the district’s head football coach from 2002-2018, racking up a 130-60 record, seven conference championships, and 10 playoff appearances before stepping away in 2018 for family reasons.
“I’m excited about coming back,” Valentine said after the meeting.
Valentine — who left a head coaching gig at Madison Local Schools after one season for his return to Ashland — will replace Sean Seder, who resigned in January after the district announced his contract would not be renewed.
Only 11 people applied for the head coach job, and only three met the qualifications for the position. Of those three, one ended up removing his name from consideration, leaving Ashland City Schools with a choice between Valentine and another “very strong candidate,” interim superintendent Steve Paramore said.
“Obviously his resume speaks for itself. But his commitment to to Ashland and Ashland High School Football is something you can’t measure,” Paramore said about Valentine.
The other head coach candidate, who Paramore declined to name, might join Ashland’s football program as an assistant coach in the future, he added.
Valentine said he plans to build on the Arrows’ positive record from the previous season on his first day, which coincidentally is Valentine’s Day.
“A lot of good things are happening. They were six and four last year, but we want to try to look at and see what we can take from there, and then move forward to add to the program,” he said.
In other business, the board scheduled an auction for the vacant Osborn Elementary School for April 1 at 10 a.m. with a minimum sale price of $250,000.
The board also voted to modify and extend the district’s contract with the Ohio Association of Public School Employees to give employees a 50 cent raise on July 1 and a 50 cent raise on the same date in 2024, among other changes.
