Milford High School announced on Oct. 30 that Tom Grippa is retiring as head football coach after 10 seasons leading the Eagles, closing a head coaching career that spanned 49 years in football and stops across Southwest Ohio, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Grippa went 57-51 at Milford and owns a career head coaching record of 232-150, with nine postseason wins — including a pair in 1996 that led Elder to the school’s first regional championship and state tournament appearance — according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Before Milford, Grippa coached at Elder, Fairfield and La Salle and served as an assistant at Mount St. Joseph, the Enquirer reported.
“The Milford High School community is appreciative of Coach Grippa’s 10 seasons leading our football program,” Milford Director of Athletics Mark Trout said in a release, as quoted by the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I had the pleasure of hiring Coach Grippa for the position and I’ve seen the positive impact he has had both on and off the field for the last decade. He elevated the Milford program into a regular contender in one of the area’s top conferences and renewed prominence in Southwest Ohio. We wish Tom all the best in whatever his next steps of life may be.”
Grippa won his 200th career game as a head coach in 2021, a milestone that put him in the Ohio High School Athletic Association record book, and in 2023 he received the Paul Brown Excellence in Coaching Award from the Cincinnati Bengals, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“In those 49 years, I have had many championships and a lot of wins, but my fondest memories are being around outstanding assistants and awesome young men who loved the great game of football,” Grippa said in a release from Milford, as quoted by the Cincinnati Enquirer. “To all my assistant coaches, players and head coaches that I have worked under, I say, ‘thank you!’ It was a wonderful ride, and I love you all.”
What happens next: the coaching search to replace Grippa is underway, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, as Milford begins looking for the coach who will lead the Eagles after a decade under one of Southwest Ohio’s most experienced head coaches.