The Platteville School Board hired a math teacher who is likely to become Platteville High School’s head football coach Monday night.

Kyle Craig, an assistant coach for the Hillmen from 2008 to 2013, was hired for a new math teacher position at PHS.
Platteville Public Schools superintendent Connie Valenza said Craig will be recommended to be hired as head football coach when cocurricular coach and advisor assignments are made later this year.

Craig’s position is an addition at PHS because of increasing state graduation requirements in math. Beginning with the current sophomore class, high school graduates are required to pass three credits of math, which can include one credit of computer science or a Career and Technical Education class.

Craig is presently a math teacher at Stoughton High School and was a freshman football coach this past season.

Craig’s last football season with Platteville was 2013, when the Hillmen advanced to their second state championship
game in school history, losing to Winneconne 28–14 in the WIAA Division 4 state championship. The Hillmen were 5–4 and 4–4 in the Southwest Wisconsin Conference and needed to win three of their last four regular-season games just to make the playoffs, but then got four playoff wins, including defeating number-one-ranked Walworth Big Foot, to go to state.

If he takes the job, Craig, the defensive coordinator on the 2013 team, will replace Scott Statz, who coached 14 seasons and was 95–52 at PHS, with three conference titles and 11 playoff berths. Statz was named SWC Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2006. His overall record, including five in Lodi, is 127–74, with 13 playoff appearances.

“Kyle is one of the best assistant coaches we have ever had,” said Statz, who said he will be staying on as offensive coordinator. “He was a major factor in the success we have enjoyed in the past. He will be an outstanding head football coach.”

The School Board also approved the hiring of a new associate principal and activities director, Michael Foley, currently holding that position in Richland Center.

Foley, a native of Wauzeka, graduated from UW–Platteville and taught at River Ridge. He was the athletic director, girls basketball and softball coach, and middle and high school teacher in Fall River.

Foley’s master’s degree is from Concordia University in Mequon.