Newark Catholic hires Josh Hendershot as head football coach

NEWARK — Josh Hendershot has quickly been climbing up the college football ranks, but a chance to return home to his alma mater was too good to pass up.

Hendershot was named the Newark Catholic head coach on Monday. He was an All-Ohio lineman for the Green Wave in 2009 before receiving Mid-American Conference honors at Toledo.

“I am really excited. Obviously, this is really special to me,” Hendershot said. “For four years, this place meant a lot to me. I don’t know if it was divine intervention or what it was, but everything kind of worked out at the right time for me and my wife to take this opportunity.”

Hendershot began his coaching career at NC. He then returned to Toledo for two seasons, was a graduate assistant on Jim Harbaugh’s staff at Michigan for a year and served the last two seasons as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator at Dayton.

Hendershot replaces Ryan Aiello, who led NC to its third consecutive Division VII regional title last fall. Aiello previously resigned a year ago, but he returned to his post in May when Paul Cronin and NC parted ways after less than two months.