Hazen High School has hired Chris Bennett to be their new football coach as the team heads into a new league in the fall.

Bennett is the former Head Coach at Issaquah High School, where in his six seasons he won KingCo 4A Coach of the Year twice. For the past two years, he has been an assistant coach at University of Puget Sound, where he coached defensive backs and special teams.

A press release from the school called Bennett an “excellent fit for Hazen.”

“His desire for his team to exhibit excellence both on and off the field is exactly what we are looking for in a head coach in all of our sports,” the release reads. “He understands and embraces that his role is to be a teacher of both the game itself but more importantly a teacher of each young man in the program.”

Hazen has “opted-up” to a 4A league next year and will play in the newly re-formed North Puget Sound League. Hazen will play in the Cascade Division with the Kent schools, Mount Rainier, Tahoma and Kennedy Catholic.

According to the press release, Bennett’s experience in larger leagues and at a college were among the reasons he was chosen to lead the Highlanders next season.

Bennett will replace David Kilpatrick-White, who coached Hazen to a 7-13 record over the past two seasons. According to the school, Kilpatrick-White left for family reasons.