Bill Leach has seen his share of Division III high school football stadiums in his 30 years of coaching.

So when he turned the corner approaching Monroe High School, he was blown away a little bit.

“You come around that corner and see the stadium and you think, that’s a Division I stadium,” Leach said. “Then you see the weight room and it is pretty impressive — all the facilities here are pretty impressive. You can tell they did everything the right way.”

Leach is hoping he can follow suit.

The long-time Princeton coach was approved by the Monroe board of education on Monday night to become the Hornets’ new head football coach. Leach played at Princeton and has spent 30 years as a member of the Vikings coaching staff, including a five-year stint as head coach (2006-2010).

“A lot of guys, after they are done being a head coach, just want to help out and don’t want to run a program, but I’m not there yet,” Leach said. “I enjoy doing both; toward the end (of being the head coach) at Princeton I felt like I was more of an administrator than getting down and dirty with the kids, but I feel here I can do both.”

Monroe had eight applicants for the position, but athletic director Dave Bauer said the low number was by design.

“We didn’t advertise it a whole lot,” Bauer said. “We didn’t have a teaching opening and most want both. This was a coaching opening only and I was ecstatic to see Bill apply. I have know Bill for 30 years; I know what he does and where he comes from.”

Leach prefers the spread offense and an odd front on defense but said tweaks will be made once he can evaluate personnel.

“We will mold it around the kids,” he said, “but there are a lot of ways to adapt.”

Leach had planned on meeting with the team Tuesday after school, but duty called — jury duty.

“I had told Dave I would be here at 2 p.m. to meet with the kids unless I got on the jury and I am the first alternate,” Leach said. “Sometimes it works in your favor, but it didn’t this time. We will figure out a way to meet with them as a group; I can’t wait to get in there and start working with them.”