Tom Grippa is retiring as Milford High School's head football coach after 10 seasons with the Eagles, the school announced Friday, Oct. 30.

Grippa, 70, leaves as the winningest coach in Milford history with a 57-51 record and seven playoff appearances. He has a career head coaching record of 232-150, according to the school district's announcement. WCPO reported that Grippa spent 49 years in coaching football.

"I had the pleasure of hiring Coach Grippa for the position and I've seen the positive impact he has had both on and off the field for the last decade," Milford Director of Athletics Mark Trout said in a statement. "He elevated the Milford program into a regular contender in one of the area's top conferences and renewed prominence in Southwest Ohio."

Grippa's arrival in 2017 changed the program fast. His first Eagles squad finished 8-3 and reached the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) playoffs for the first time since 1986, sharing the Eastern Cincinnati Conference (ECC) title. A year later, Milford earned its first playoff win with a come-from-behind victory over Fairfield in a 9-3 season.

The peak came in 2023. Milford ran the table at 10-0 in the regular season, won the outright ECC championship and beat Fairfield in the first round of the playoffs before falling to Mason in the second round. Grippa was named 2023 ECC Coach of the Year and received the Cincinnati Bengals' Paul Brown Excellence in Coaching Award that same year.

Under his watch, the program produced 11 All-Ohio honorees, 80 All-ECC performers and nearly 50 players who went on to play college football, according to the school.

The 2026 season was a different story. Milford finished 1-9, going 1-8 in the ECC.

Before Milford, Grippa served as head coach at Elder (1987–1996), Fairfield (1997–2002) and La Salle (2003–2012). He also spent four years as an assistant coach at Mount St. Joseph University. At Elder, he led the school to its first regional championship and state tournament appearance in 1996, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. He reached his 200th career head coaching win in 2021, placing him in the OHSAA record book.

"In those 49 years, I have had many championships and a lot of wins, but my fondest memories are being around outstanding assistants and awesome young men who loved the great game of football," Grippa said in a statement.

The school said the search for Grippa's successor will begin immediately.