ADAMS TWP — A former assistant Knoch High School principal and football coach has been tentatively hired as the new superintendent at the Mars School District.

James A. Budzilek, the superintendent of the Leechburg School District in Armstrong County for the past nine years, will join Mars in August as assistant to the superintendent/superintendent designate. State law prohibits districts from having two superintendents.

The school board will vote on Budzilek’s hire at its meeting Tuesday night.

Budzilek will work with Mars Superintendent William Pettigrew until December, when he retires after 26 years.

“I’m still on cloud nine,” Budzilek said this morning. “It’s been a surreal experience.”

Budzilek was a science teacher and football coach in the South Butler School District, where he worked from 1987 to 2002. He coached the junior high football team, and then was an assistant coach for the Knoch varsity team.

Budzilek also was a principal at Knoch High School in 2000-01.

Budzilek earned his doctoral degree and superintendent certificate from the University of Pittsburgh, and his principal’s certificate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He completed a Master’s of Education in Science Education and a Bachelor of Science in Earth Science at Clarion University of Pennsylvania.

He lives in Freeport, but plans to relocate to the Mars district with his wife and five-year-old son.