A new head football coach will join the Hatboro-Horsham High School team this season.

The Hatboro-Horsham School Board appointed Michael Kapusta as the high school's head football coach during Monday's meeting. Kapusta, who will earn a $6,753.60 annual salary, replaces Gary Pagliaro, a 1980 Hatboro-Horsham High School graduate hired as head football coach in 2010 during the teacher contract stalemate.

A 2000 North Penn High School graduate, Kapusta told Patch that he's been working with the football team for the last five weeks and has high hopes for the upcoming season, which gets underway on Aug. 30 with a game against Norristown Area High School, where Kapusta teaches art.

"The main thing really is to teach our kids to compete," Kapusta said of his goal. "We just lost a bunch of guys to spring sports."

Kapusta said the team's "learning curve is accelerated" and that the underclassmen are already proving to be "very strong."

"Where they came from was a pretty low level experience," Kapusta said. 

Following the school board's vote Monday, Hatboro-Horsham Athletic Director Lou James touted Kapusta's experience and said, "We’re very proud at the high school to have him as part of our staff."

Kapusta, who has nearly a decade of experience coaching football at the high school and collegiate level throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, is currently an assistant football coach at North Penn High School. Kapusta’s duties include team strength and conditioning, opponent film study and serving as an assistant to the head coach. During the 2011 season, the Knights reached the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) - AAAA state championship game.

Hatboro-Horsham High School Principal Dennis Williams Jr. said Kapusta will be a great addition to the school’s coaching staff because of his extensive instructional knowledge, existing resources and ability to connect with student athletes.

“Michael truly understands what it takes to create and maintain an exceptional football program, and he has the experience and knowledge of the offensive and defensive side of the ball,” Williams said. “His experiences at various athletic programs, both high school and collegiate, put him in a position to share with our student athletes the work ethic needed on and off the field to be successful.”

Prior to coaching at North Penn High School, Kapusta served as an assistant coach and special teams coordinator at Wissahickon High School. He also coached football at Lehigh University, Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Off the football field, Kapusta received his master’s degree in education from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University and his bachelor’s degree in art from the University of Pennsylvania.

As a collegiate student athlete, Kapusta played both linebacker and fullback at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a three-year letter winner. He was also a member of the three Ivy League championship football teams at the University of Pennsylvania in 2000, 2002 and 2003. During the 2003 season, Kapusta received the Penn Football Club Award for athletic and academic excellence. During his high school football career, Kapusta was captain and all-state linebacker at North Penn High School. He was also named a two-time team defensive MVP.