St. Paul announced Thursday evening that is has hired Rick Zepeda as its new varsity football head coach.

Zepeda replaces interim head coach Casey Morales, who took over late in the season after Elijah Asante was fired on Oct. 10.

According to a press release put out by the school, Zepeda spent last season at St. John Bosco, although it was unclear in what capacity. Zepda is a 1988 graduate of St. Paul and was on legendary Swordsmen head coach Marijon Ancich’s staff from 1995-2004. He spent one season as an assistant at Long Beach Jordan in 2004 and two seasons at East Los Angeles College from 2005-07 before being the head coach at El Rancho from ’08-’11.

St. Paul made a splash last offseason when it replaced Ancich, who retired, with Asante. The Swordsmen got several big-name transfers, but the season never got off the ground. St. Paul finished 1-9.

Aram’s take: St. Paul fans get what they want — a St. Paul guy. How Zepeda rounds out his staff will be very key and a little birdie has told me there’s a possibility that recently resigned San Gabriel coach Jude Oliva will be Zepeda’s offensive coordinator. Now that would really go a long away toward forming a dynamic staff. No matter what the coaching staff is, they will need some horses to work with and I’m not too sure what type of talent remains in Santa Fe Springs.