Prep football: Former Windsor, Cardinal Newman coach Paul Cronin to be the next head coach at Ukiah

Former Cardinal Newman and Windsor coach Paul Cronin is returning to the North Bay League for his next head coaching job.

The second-winningest head coach in Sonoma County history will be taking over at Ukiah High School, Cronin and Ukiah Athletic Director Stephen Summers confirmed Tuesday. Cronin has been teaching at Ukiah for several months but officially took the helm of the football program in recent weeks.

“I’m excited for the kids and the school and the opportunity to work with someone of Paul’s caliber,” Summers said. “He brings a wealth of knowledge to pass on to our kids and to our coaches. There’s something special about a football program in a small town and how that can bring energy to the community.”

Cronin, who has 222 career wins under his belt over 20-plus seasons coaching in the North Bay, spent this past year doing consulting work with a few local programs, including Montgomery and Cloverdale, and running individual skills training on the side.

“I had a lot of fun this year consulting and doing what I did, but there was a dead end on a lot of stuff,” Cronin told The Press Democrat on Tuesday evening. “You can’t really watch film or work on plays. So, it’ll be exciting to get back into coaching the whole person as well as the whole team.

“I’m excited to try some new things I picked up in my year of going around and learning football,” he added.

Ryan Parrish, who led Ukiah to a 6-3 season and a second-place finish in the NBL Redwood division last year, will stay on as an assistant with the rest of Ukiah’s current staff.

Prior to his consulting work last year, Cronin led Cardinal Newman from 2003 to 2020, guiding the program to five North Coast Section titles, three state title game appearances and its first state title in 2019.

He left to coach Windsor in 2021 and led the Jaguars to an 11-win season and their second section title in school history. The following spring he took a job at Newark Catholic in Ohio but left the school after just six weeks, saying the job “didn’t work out.”

According to several reports, Cronin was also candidate for the head coaching job at state powerhouse JSerra Catholic in San Juan Capistrano in December.

Cronin is no stranger to Ukiah. He starred as a quarterback at Mendocino College from 1992-1994 and was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame as part of its inaugural class in 2006.

At 222 career wins, he ranks second in Redwood Empire history behind only the late Jason Franci, who won 232 games over 33 seasons at Montgomery, per CalHi Sports records.

You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @JustGusPD.