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From the Bench: Veteran Coach Resigns His Position, but it's Not all Bad News for BHS Football Program

By Jeff Toquinto on May 02, 2021 from Sports Blog via Connect-Bridgeport.com

It was a small item on a recent Harrison County Board of Education agenda. Under the personnel section, there were resignations to be approved.
 
It was not the first time this name was there. Years ago, it was listed under resignation as a teacher after decades as an educator. It would also be listed under the same category it was most recently – football coach.
 
There was one difference. The resignation many years ago was as the head football coach at Liberty High School. The resignation this time was as the assistant freshman football coach at Bridgeport who also spent a substantial amount of time practicing with and working game days with the varsity program as well.
 
For those not sure who this is, it is veteran Coach Tom Hilton. For the first time in a 45-year coaching career that dates back to Victory High School, Hilton will no longer be a paid member of a high school coaching staff.
 
It is not all bad news for those who know exactly what Hilton brought to the table – a highly respected figure who kids looked up to and who has forgotten more football than most know. We will get to that here in short order.
 
First, a few words about what Hilton established during his time at BHS. And the words from Bridgeport Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Mark Jones are powerful.
 
“There are a lot of students if you ask them who is one of the most influential coaches they’ve had, many will tell you Tom Hilton,” said Jones. “Whether it be something little or big, it seems he leaves lasting impression on his student-athletes.
 
“I think the fact that he had been around so long and coached so many different athletes, I think you gain a knack for understanding a way to communicate all the different individuals,” Jones continued. “Coach Hilton had that knack, and it has been a tremendous asset among many others to the program.”
 
For Hilton, who coached initially with the legendary John Mazzei at Victory High School, it is clear football is in his blood. From his prep playing days to a four-year career at Marshall, Hilton loves the game. And since no one has ever gotten rich coaching at the high school level in West Virginia, to put in nearly a half a century of time to the game speaks volumes to that love.
 
So, why the resignation?
 
“I’m an old school coach so when I thought it was time to step away from a paid position I stepped away,” said Hilton, who spent eight seasons with the Tribe as a paid assistant. “It is as simple as that and I can tell you along the way I’ve had the pleasure of experience good kids at Victory to Liberty and now at Bridgeport.
 
“The one constant along with that is I’m always resigning,” said Hilton with a laugh. “Seriously, though, I still love this game. I’m hoping to come back as a volunteer assistant. I want to do that because I guess coaching is what I’m meant to do.”
 
By all accounts, new Coach Tyler Phares is welcoming of that. As former head coach and likely new assistant coach John Cole said to me many times, and I am paraphrasing “you can’t go wrong having someone with as much experience who is so well liked by everyone like Coach Hilton around your program.”
 
The players’ respect for Hilton is not new. I can speak first-hand to it. I was a student at Liberty High School in the mid-1980s when he was coach there. He was also a physical education and health teacher that I had.
 
His student and players loved him. The members on those teams during my prep run still talk fondly about their former coach and smiles and conversation are plentiful when they run into one another. Perhaps it is because kids know when they are around the genuine article and, if they do not at the time, they usually figure it out. What they figured out is his lessons were as much about life as it was about football.
 
“There’s no question we try to tell the kids since the beginning that football is football and life is football and both will coincide,” said Hilton. “You’re going to find out that you do things in football to take you through life and do things in life that you do from football.”
 
Hilton had a few good teams and some outstanding players – including Jimbo Fisher and Billy Leeson among several other standouts – at Liberty. Playing at Class AAA primarily, the team never got the brass ring. And despite the life lessons, Hilton said that is always the goal for any coach at any level and at any position on the staff.
 
“You coach to get to that final game no matter where you’re at and you better have fun trying to get there. We did that at every stop,” said Hilton. “Even though I was the freshman assistant, I helped with the varsity as much as I could, and I can tell you it was more than just a little bit of fun to be involved with a state championship.”
 
Hilton was involved with four of them – 2019, 2015, 2014, and 2013. While he enjoyed the title, he enjoyed the kids that won them more.
 
“The kids are definitely the best part. Begin to work and be around them and watch them turn into young men before your eyes,” said Hilton. “That’s what it’s all about whether you win or lose.
 
“I tell people it is the same at Bridgeport how I felt as it was when I coached before. The goal is to see them mature,” he continued. “Working with the freshman exclusively at Bridgeport, you really got see those wide-eyed 140-pound kids become grown men by hitting the weight room and maturing by the time they were seniors. It was really something, and something to enjoy.”
 
Jones closed on Hilton, who likely will still help shape players as a volunteer for the varsity, with a similar note. And it was high praised, and more important, well earned.
 
“You know with Coach Hilton you had someone who was all in, and not just with football,” said Jones. “He was certainly there for the program and most of all he was there for the kids. His ultimate goal was to see the student-athletes succeed. That is the one thing you want from all of your coaches and he’s done that for decades.”
 
Editor's Note: Photos show Tom Hilton during the past eight years with the Bridgeport High School football team.


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