Woodbury AD On New Football Coach: ‘We want to build an elite program’

athletic director Jason Schultz says the new football coach the school recently hired stood out for one main reason.

“I don’t know anyone that brings more energy—energy that you can sense—than Andy Hill,” Schultz said.

Hill will on the gridiron for the Royals, following the , who took a job coaching the Stillwater football team.

Schultz, who is relatively new to Woodbury, said he reached out to the football backers and booster programs in the area to see if they knew who would make a good coach for Woodbury. He assumes one of them got in touch with Hill about coming back to his alma mater. Hill graduated from Woodbury in 1996, Schultz said, and was a volunteer coach for the Royals from 1998-99.

That energy Hill brings should translate into wins for the Royals, Schultz said.

“Mediocrity isn’t OK,” he said. “We want to build an elite program. … And he’s willing to do the work to make that happen.”

Hill previously coached at South Lakes High School in Reston, Va. He will take a job as a social studies teacher at Woodbury.

“Woodbury High School is the school I attended as a student and where I coached for my first two seasons as an assistant coach,” Hill said in an email to athletic boosters in Reston. "For me, this was an opportunity to go HOME, and one that I had not anticipated presenting itself until I was contacted about the opportunity a few weeks ago. ... There is no other high school position in the country that I would have chosen to leave (South Lakes) for other than the school for which I played and coached."

Hill, 32, took over a South Lakes team that went 5-6 in 2009. The Seahawks started 2009 5-1, then lost five games in a row.

Under Hill, the Seahawks finished 8-4 in 2010. The team defeated Herndon in the Baron Cameron Bowl for the first time since 2002, and also won a playoff game.

"I apologize for the disappointment and frustration that my decision will cause," Hill said. "This was not an easy decision. The unique opportunity to go home—back to where I was raised, to the school whose jersey I wore when I was a player—along with the financial ability for us to afford a home for our future family led to this decision. I love South Lakes and it will always hold a special place in my heart. I apologize for leaving before all of the work that we set out to do has been completed."

Schultz called Hill a “pragmatic” coach who will work with the talent available to craft an overall team philosophy. The two haven’t had extensive discussions on what type of offense Woodbury will run next year, but it could be some form of the spread, Schultz said.

“We want to win,” he said. “He’s going to run whatever offense and defense gets us there.”