Marijon Ancich, the state’s winningest high school football coach when he left St. Paul in 2005, is returning to St. Paul as its head coach, it was announced Monday.
Ancich’s 344 victories set the record that was tied last fall by Concord De La Salle’s Bob Ladouceur.
Ancich replaces Pete Gonzalez, who posted a 22-15 record with a CIF championship and a trip to the semifinals in three seasons.
This will be Ancich’s third stint at St. Paul. He coached there from 1961-81 and 1993-2005. He spent nine seasons at Tustin High School during the break (1984-92) and a year at Northern Arizona.
The past three years, he was defensive coordinator at Cerritos College for two seasons, and helped his son, Villa Park HS co-head coach Dusan, this past season.
His record over nearly 50 seasons of high school football is 344-123-10.