THE PREPS : Santa Ana’s Bill Ross Named Athletic Director

Bill Ross, varsity baseball coach at Santa Ana High School for 31 years, has been named to succeed Bob Halford as the school’s athletic director.

Halford resigned as Santa Ana’s athletic director last month to assume a similar position at Century High in Santa Ana. Century will open in the fall with 1,000 freshmen and sophomores.

Ross also has coached lower-level football at Santa Ana for 18 years and is a prominent basketball official, serving in the Orange County Officials Assn. for 25 years.

Ross, who teaches driver’s education at Santa Ana and will continue to coach baseball, said his first priority would be to hire a boys’ basketball coach to replace Greg Coombs, who also is moving to Century High.