Dec 15, 2022 3 min read

In four seasons as head football coach at West Greene High School, Brian Hanson developed the Pioneers into one of the most prolific offenses in the WPIAL, led by record-setting running backs Ben Jackson and Colin Brady.

Brady will be back for his senior season next fall but Hanson will not.

South Allegheny announced Thursday the hiring of Hanson as the Gladiators’ new head coach.

Hanson will be SA’s fourth coach in three seasons. Former Ringgold head coach Darwin Manges was hired by South Allegheny for the 2022 season, but he resigned in mid-October, citing health reasons. Desmond Ball served as the Gladiators’ interim coach for the remainder of the season.

Hanson had 24-16 record in four seasons at West Greene and twice during that span the Pioneers went undefeated in the Tri-County South Conference.

In 2019, Hanson’s first at West Greene, the Pioneers went 10-2 and defeated Greensburg Central Catholic 36-0 in the first round of the WPIAL Class A playoffs before losing to Sto-Rox in the semifinals. Jackson rushed for 3,076 yards and scored 50 touchdowns during that season.

West Greene’s 2021 team also went 7-0 in the conference and finished the year with an 8-3 record.

“Brian was a good Hudl guy who got a lot of exposure to colleges for our guys,” said West Greene athletic director Bill Simms. “He is very good at networking and you need that in the job. That is going to be sorely missed.”

Simms agreed that South Allegheny is getting a quality football coach.

“He’s a good coach in a way that he thinks there’s only football at the school,” Simms said. “That’s a compliment. He has a one-track mind for football.”

Hanson posted on social media Thursday that he had accepted the South Allegheny position.

“Emotional day today. Today I made it official and resigned from West Greene High School. I will be forever thankful for my players and administration. I know West Greene Football will be in good hands going forward,” Hanson posted on Twitter.

Hanson’s resignation has not yet been accepted by West Greene, so Simms could not give a timetable of when the job will be posted or when he would like to have the next coach hired.

“We hope we have a guy on staff who could take the job, but you never know what is going to happen,” Simms said. “We have to go through the formality of accepting (Hanson’s) resignation and they’ve already had the December school board meeting.”

South Allegheny had a 1-9 record in the recently concluded season and went winless in five Class 3A Interstate Conference games. That’s the same conference that includes state champion Belle Vernon. South Allegheny’s lone win was in the season opener against Yough, 25-7.