BUFFALO TWP— John Gaillot knows Freeport football and quality coaching.

He hopes the combination leads to success this fall after the 38-year-old South Buffalo Township resident was named Freeport High's head football coach at a school board meeting Wednesday night.

Gaillot, a 1988 Freeport graduate, teaches fourth grade at Buffalo Elementary and has been the district's junior high football coach the past four years.

"We stress academics first, conduct second and football third," he said. "We've found a lot of success that way."

Freeport's junior high team is a combined 28-2-1 over the past four years.

Gaillot replaces Bill Dillen, who resigned after the 2007 season. Dillen was 20-16 in four years as head coach after serving as a Freeport assistant for years.

Dillen was the Yellowjackets' defensive coordinator when Gaillot was a defensive end on the team.

"I played under and worked with Coach Dillen, I played for head coaches Don Earley and Gary Kepple at Freeport, coached with Clyde Conti at Clarion-Limestone," Gaillot said. "I've learned from all of those people."

Gaillot played middle linebacker and special teams at Clarion University, where he earned his degree in education. He was a student teacher and assistant on Conti's staff for one year.

He has been a teacher in the Freeport district for 12 years.

Gaillot served as junior high coach in Mark Kaczanowicz's program for three seasons before leaving coaching for a few years.

"We had deaths in my family and personal issues to get through," he said. "I don't know if I would have gotten back into coaching or not had Bill Dillen not been named head coach.

"I told Bill if he got the job, I'd join his staff. My wife knew how much I missed coaching. We had just had our first child and she encouraged me to get back into it."

Gaillot and his wife of 14 years, Jenie, also a Freeport graduate and fourth-grade teacher in the district, now have three daughters:Jena, 4, Jaden, 2, and Jaisa 7 months.

Gaillot's staff includes the return of Bob Isenberg, who has 30 years of coaching experience, after a hiatus of a number of years. Isenberg will be the offensive coordinator.

Former NFLand Pro Bowl offensive lineman Jeff Christy, a teammate of Gaillot's at Freeport, joins the staff as a full-time assistant and will be the offensive line coach.

Junior varsity coaches are Bruce Yard and Josh Price, volunteer assistants are Chad Ravotti and Matt Hughes. Shawn Stivenson and Talon Conjack will coach the freshmen while Josh Helgert and Mike Kleckner will coach the junior high team.

Isenberg is the only coach who didn't serve with the team in some capacity and is one of many Freeport graduates on the staff.

"That was very important to me and I know it was important to Coach Dillen,"Gaillot said of maintaining local flavor on the staff. "We grew up through this system. We believe in it and know it well."

Freeport has not been to the WPIALplayoffs since 2003, when a Sam Albert-coached team lost a first-round game to Riverside.

"Each of the last four years, we've come within a play or two of getting there,"Gaillot said. "Our numbers have been healthy, about 20 to 30 players per class, and I'm happy with that.

"I'm a young coach and I believe I've surrounded myself with the best staff in our conference. I've got 24 years before I retire and I'll spend that time coaching here as long as they'll have me. My wife and I are where we want to be."

Since 1922, Freeport varsity football has won 487 games and has been to the WPIALplayoffs 22 times.

The 2008 schedule features all nine games against section opponents.

"We're going to have to maintain our intensity from Day 1 in practice,"Gaillot said. "We'll treat every game like a playoff game because it will have an impact that way."