MARIETTA - The Marietta school board voted 7-0 Tuesday night to hire a former University of Richmond assistant football coach as the new head football coach for Marietta High School.

The recommendation to hire Scott Burton was made by Superintendent Dr. Emily Lembeck, with board member Tom Cheater making the motion. The board met behind closed doors for about 40 minutes before coming out in public to appoint Burton to the spot. After they voted him in, Burton entered the boardroom to greet board members.

Board Chairman Randy Weiner praised the appointment.

"He's really the complete package. He's strong on academics, strong on the field and has a strong mentoring program or is a strong mentor to kids, and that's what we're looking for," Weiner said.

Burton, who will teach social studies at the high school as well, assumes his post April 1.

The list of attractions that lured him to Marietta is long, he said.

"I think the first thing I'd say is the community, the feel of a community that truly cares about its students, that cares about its citizens and cares about its football really appealed to me. I know the quality of football down in Georgia, and I'm excited about that, but I think more than that, you know, there's lots of schools in Georgia, but Marietta seems to be really a perfect fit for how my wife and I really wanted to raise our children with the marriage of also being a football town," he said.

Burton, 37, and his wife, Meg, have three young sons ages 10, 8 and 5.

Working for a school system with one high school was particularly attractive to him because there are no divided loyalties, with the community rallying around a single school, he said.

"There's a distinct flavor of Marietta culture here and I think that's very important because in other places you kind of leave one subdivision and enter another, and you don't really get that true sense of where the community begins and ends. Here it's pretty distinctive. You know the Marietta culture is strong and the support for their athletics and the support for all students is strong. So it was important to me to be in a one horse town, so to speak, because everybody focuses on that one horse. So we're excited to get this thing going that's for sure," he said.

Last year, nine teachers at MHS also coached football. All MHS coaches are classroom teachers. Those currently employed at MHS teach classes in the PE, special education, and in the career, technical and agriculture education departments.

Burton said it's too early to say whether he'll bring his own staff down from Virginia or not. Given that Marietta's current coaches know the culture of the school - the students and the programs - it would be foolish for him not to lean on them, he said.

Spring practice is nearly here, but Burton says he plans to be ready for it.

"Don't worry, I'll be here in plenty of time to get spring practice rolling and the staff will be in place and we'll be ready to go," he said.

Burton said he may have to commute back and forth from Virginia as his family prepares to move, but that's something his wife is already working on.

Rumors of him being lured away by a better coaching job in Virginia are unfounded, he said.

"This is the premiere job. This is the kind of job that I've been looking for to allow me to do what I love, which is help kids and be an integral part of the community and be woven in to the fabric of the community," he said.

His goal is to build a program, not just a series of teams.

"I think there's a big difference when you talk about building a football team versus building a football program and what we want to do is we want to build a program where these young men are going to be recognized in the classroom, in the hallways, in the community, and on the football field as being stellar, as being excellent, as being, you know, the model, and there's going to be no secret to that," he said. "When I speak to the players the message is going to be we want to dominate everything. We want to dominate the classroom, we want to dominate the math test, we want to dominate the SAT, and we want to dominate on Friday nights, so there's going to be very high standards, however kids will hit whatever standard you set for them. If you set the bar low, they'll hit the bar low. I truly believe that. If you set it high they'll hit it high. So we're going to set it really high and we're going to communicate what that expectation is and make them want to meet the standard."

Stay tuned as he rolls out his program, he said.

Burton is an educator with 11 years experience as a social science teacher. He served as Head Football Coach at Highland Springs High School located in Highland Springs, Virginia from 1999 until 2007, as well as Assistant Football Coach at Douglas Freeman High School in Richmond from 1997 until 1999. Burton was one of 18 High School Football Coaches in America chosen to coach in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Game in 2007.

While at University of Richmond, he played defensive back from 1991-94, intercepting 16 passes. In 1994, he was named I-AA National Defensive Player of the Week for a game against Northeastern University.

A graduate of University of Georgia, Burton earned a Master of Education in Social Science Education there. He also earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology/Criminal Justice at the University of Richmond.

In Jan., MHS Blue Devil Head Coach Friday Richards announced that he would retire at the end of the school year after 16 seasons as head football coach and 33 years of coaching at MHS. He will continue teaching on a part-time basis at MHS in the 2010-2011 school year.

Burton said Friday has made it an easy transition for him by putting in place a solid foundation.

"We're not trying to come in here and rebuild Rome. It's certainly a great situation to come into," Burton said.

Although Marietta has lost three of the last four seasons, Burton takes that in stride.

"I think that quite often we get caught up in wins and loses on the score board. And you can look back at the last couple of years and say you know what, it hasn't been where we wanted to be on the scoreboard, but I think also it does a disservice in some respects to the contributions that have been made in the school and in the community. You know, if you're producing good solid young men then that's a victory in and of itself and Coach Friday deserves a lot of credit for that. So I'm not here to talk about the past in terms of wins and losses. I'm here to talk about the future and for the future we have a distinct plan, there's no doubt about it. We have a vision, we have a plan, and I just ask that the folks of Marietta believe in the plan as we unfold it, and as we show it to them and present it to them. I know that the kids will enjoy it. I know that the faculty is going to be in love with it because of the success we've had in the past. And the plan does work. And I'm confident in the plan," he said.

Burton was hired at a salary of $85,000, which breaks down into $56,262 for his teacher contract, $6,500 for his athletic supplement as head football coach and $22,238 for his athletic supplement as liaison for football programs. By comparison, Friday's total salary was $96,103.

Burton's position also allows for a graduated performance incentive. Based on net gate receipts from all football regular season home contests, which will include football contests with grade 9-12 participants, the head coach will receive three percent of the net gate for monies over $90,000 and up to $114,999; four percent of the net gate for monies over $115,000 up to $129,999; and five percent of the net gate for monies over $130,000.

Net gate receipts will be calculated by the athletic department using the same formulas used in prior years.

Additionally, the head coach and all varsity football coaches will receive an amount equal to five percent of his coaching supplement for each playoff win in rounds one through three, an amount equal to 10 percent of his coaching supplement for each win in round four and an amount equal to 15 percent of his coaching supplement for each win in round five.

The search team that narrowed the choice down to Burton was composed of MHS principal Leigh Colburn, MHS athletic director Paul Hall, Associate Principal Ron Brookins; Col. James Wilson, a MHS Teacher of the Year and baseball coach; and MHS Touchdown Club President Keith Davidson. Committee members were invited to participate by Colburn and Hall, with the interview process spanning Feb. 15 to Feb. 26, school officials said.

"This is a very very proud historic, you know, thick, rich community, and so with that tradition, with that springboard and with some tweaks and some ideas for the future, we're in for some good things. I think all of us are," Burton said.

"I can promise you that we're going to be well disciplined, with the fundamentals, we're going to play with a tremendous amount of energy and passion and the folks in Marietta are going to be proud of the Marietta Blue Devils," he said.

Lembeck said she was pleased with the appointment.

"I think he's going to really provide a lot of what our students need, our student athletes need. He'll be good for Marietta High School football. Coach Friday has awful big shoulder pads to fill, and I know that Scott Burton is going to do his best to meet the needs of our students as well as to have a winning football team," Lembeck said.