SPRINGFIELD — Adam Taylor has been hired as the new head football coach at Springfield High School.

He was approved at Thursday’s school board meeting.

“We’re very excited,” said Springfield High communications consultant Kim Fish. “I understand he impressed the interview committee. He’s got coaching experience at the middle school and high school level in three different sports. We’re looking forward to him starting with our players.”

Taylor, who will also be teaching in the district, was an assistant coach at Springfield in 2009 and served as the head varsity coach at Greeneview High School from 2006 through 2008, where he went 5-25.

He takes over for Rick Robertson, who led the Wildcats to back-to-back Division I, Region 3 playoff berths and a share of the Greater Western Ohio Conference Central Division championship last fall.

He resigned on April 14 to take the vacant job at Oakwood.

So is Taylor ready for a challenge?

“I love them,” said Taylor of challenges, with a slight chuckle. “I don’t think this is a bad situation. It’s a good situation we’re in.”

Why?

“I coached there in ’09 and we had a great situation,” he said. “Of all the kids I’ve coached with, the kids of Springfield were the ones who most craved quality coaching. For me, it was a refreshing and exciting experience, to have them hungry for that.”

Taylor did not coach football last season for logistical reasons.

“I did take the year off,” he said. “Driving to practice from where I was teaching at (in the Sidney district) was draining. I wasn’t able to be there at the beginning of practice and it bothered me.

“I felt like I wasn’t able to be there for everything from the start. I was going 150 miles a day from home to where I taught to coaching and then back home.

“This drive will be much shorter.”

Taylor has yet to receive his specific assignment for the fall, but that didn’t matter to him.

“Teaching and coaching in the same district is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time,” he said.

Taylor will have approximately five weeks to put a coaching staff together and prepare his team before summer two-a-day practices officially begin on Aug. 1.

“First things first, and that is getting together with the players in the program and the coaches who have been holding it all together,” he said. “I know Coach (Conley) Smoot from before, and I’m very happy with what he has done with them so far. He is a quality coach, and quality person.”

Smoot, a 2002 South High grad and assistant coach, was running offseason workouts during the selection process.

“It will be harder as far as getting everybody on the same page, offensively and defensively, and establishing team philosophies,” Taylor admitted. “Those are things that most coaches can rely on building on coming into the summer.

“We’ll need to hit the ground running this week.”

But he thinks he and the team can catch up quickly.

“I have worked with many of these young men in the past,” he said. “I know what they are capable of and have a lot of confidence in them.

“Another challenge I’m going to have is building a coaching staff. Most guys are committed (to coaching jobs) already. But I have already been contacted by several quality individuals and I like the way things are looking.

“That’ll be at the top of my list, building a quality coaching staff,” he continued. “That’s very important, and it’s something we stressed during the interview process. We need to make sure we get the best role models we possibly can to teach these young men.”

Springfield’s Week 1 opponent is powerhouse Cincinnati St. Xavier. The game will be regionally televised on FSN Ohio as part of the Skyline Chili Crosstown Showdown at Nippert Stadium at 8:15 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27.

The next week, the ’Cats will play its Week 2 opponent, Upper Arlington, at Ohio Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 4, as part of the 2011 Kirk Herbstreit National Kickoff Classic. The game will be nationally televised on ESPNU.

So Taylor is anxious to get started, and has planned a team meeting for Monday.

“I’ve been anxiously awaiting word from Dr. (David) Estrop and the school,” he said. “I am ready to roll. I’ve been anticipating it and planning for it.

“I look forward to working with them and have nothing but confidence in what we’ll be able to accomplish in 2011.”

Contact Cooper at (937) 328-0365, mcooper@coxohio.com or on Twitter @SNS_Wizard or Rowe at 328-0364 or krowe@coxohio.com.