PREP NOTES : Dick Hill to Get Another Chance to Add to Record

Dick Hill, Orange County’s winningest high school football coach, was named head coach at Orange High, Panther Athletic Director Dave Zirkle said Friday.

Hill, 65, replaces Buddy Bland, who resigned this week to take a coaching and teaching job in Federal Way, Wash.

“It’s always exciting to take over a new job,” Hill said. “It’s like being a little kid again. At my age, that’s a pretty exciting thing.”

Hill, 196-87-3 as a coach, had applied for coaching positions at Ocean View, Buena Park and Brethren Christian last year, but spent last season as a junior varsity coach at Savanna.

He takes over an Orange program that finished 2-8 and 0-5 in the Century League last season.

“We’re very ecstatic to replace somebody as good as Buddy Bland with somebody of Dick Hill’s caliber,” Zirkle said.

Hill set the county record for victories in 1991, surpassing the mark of 191 set by Loara’s Herb Hill. Dick Hill was fired in 1992 after eight seasons as Santa Ana’s coach because he was retiring as a teacher and the school wanted a full-time teacher as coach.

He spent the 1992 season as an assistant to Tom Meiss at Foothill.