The school board has approved a replacement for football head coach Kurt Heinrich, who was recently released after 11 years at Saratoga.

The new coach, Tim Lugo, has a large amount of coaching experience from his time at Pioneer, Leland and Evergreen High Schools. He has had experience as an offensive line coach as well as a JV head coach.

In addition to coaching, Lugo will also teach physical education, becoming the on-campus coach the administration said it was looking for after it let Heinrich go.
“I think Coach Lugo stood out the most because of his passion for dealing with the students,” said assistant principal Joe Bosco. “He has had a wealth of experience coming in and he seems mild mannered yet with the knowledge and enthusiasm to build our program up.”

Applicants for the position had to go through a four-step process, which included a paperwork screening process and three rounds of interviews.
“We had three rounds of interviews: one with a panel for teaching, one with a panel for football coaching, and if they made it through both rounds, they met with principal Anderson and me and we made our final determination.” said Bosco.

The players had their first experience with Lugo in late May during their spring conditioning.

“He’s a really great guy, and he’s really focused and motivated,” said junior Michael Guercio, one of eight captains next year alongside juniors Tim Yen, Scott Thoren, Mathew Spencer, Derek Emerson, Casey Farmer, Alex Wokas and Jasper Loren. “He’s made it his idea to go out and meet individually with every player, which I think is really cool.”

Both the players and staff have high expectations for Lugo.

“I hope that he continues to build up our program that is already solid and that he will be able to teach kids on the field and off the field,” said Bosco. “I also hope that he becomes a strong part of our staff here at Saratoga High School.”