Ledyard High School was looking for a lot of things when it came to hiring a new head football coach.

Ledyard was looking for someone who could bring energy to a program that has both fallen on hard times and had four coaches over five seasons. It wanted someone who was familiar with coaching all aspects of the game. Someone with experience in running a strength and condition program was a must, too.

Michael Serricchio met all that criteria for Ledyard and was named the Colonels' new coach on Monday by athletic director and assistant principal Jim Buonocore. It will be his first head coaching job.

Serricchio replaces Clay Killingsworth, who resigned to accept an assistant coaching job at Nichols College in Dudley, Mass.

“The applicant pool was tremendous,” Buonocore said in a release. “Mike really put himself at the forefront right from the get-go. His energy, his enthusiasm and the fact that he’s known from day one when he got into coaching that this was where he wanted to be, a coach at the high school level, his commitment to the program brings what we’re looking for at this point of time. The consistency, the continuity and the leadership for the football program.”

Serricchio is a 2015 Springfield graduate, where he was an all-conference offensive lineman and a team captain as a senior. Prior to returning to his alma mater as an assistant, Serricchio spent three seasons as an assistant at King School in Stamford, where he served in a variety of roles, including defensive coordinator and strength coach. King won back-to-back New England Prep School Athletic Conference Class C championships in 2016 and 2017.

“He’s coached successfully at the high school and college level,” Buonocore said. “He’s coached on both sides of the ball. He’s coordinated on both sides of the ball. ... The granddaddy of them all is his strength and conditioning background is very strong.

“Sometimes people don’t realize that being a high school coach is more difficult than coaching at the collegiate level because you need to run your defense. You need to run your offense. You need to run your special teams. You need to run your conditioning program. You need to tape ankles, wash the uniforms. ... There’s a lot to it. He’s got experience in many of those areas.”

There’s a level of familiarity with Serricchio based on his Springfield pedigree, too. Buonocore both played and coached there and knows enough people who have vouched for him.

“I’m excited for the football program,” Buonocore said. “We need to get back to a consistent face, and consistent message, and someone the kids can count on and learn from day-after-day. And I believe Mike is going to be that individual.”

n.griffen@theday.com