St. Thomas alumnus and All-American linebacker Tony Danna has gone from Hill-Murray football player to the program’s head football coach in the span of six years.

After serving as the school’s defensive coordinator for the 2012 season, Danna was promoted to Hill-Murray School’s head football coach April 5. He replaced former coach Mark Mauer, who resigned in connection with an arrest and misdemeanor charge for soliciting prostitution. Mauer has pleaded not gulity.

Danna graduated from Hill-Murray in 2007 and from St. Thomas in 2011 with a degree in finance. He earned All-America honors in 2011, becoming only the second Tommie linebacker in 35 seasons to receive the honor.

Even though he is 30 years younger than his predecessor, Danna, 24, doesn’t view his age as a disadvantage.

“What other coach could they have hired that could put the time commitment in that I can?” Danna said. “I really think that’s what this program needs right now: a guy who can really commit all of his time to this program.”

Danna is Hill-Murray’s fourth football coach in four seasons and he believes his age will help him connect with high school athletes, many of whom are only six years younger than he is.

“There’s a disconnect between the older generation and the younger generation, and I’m part of that younger generation,” Danna said.

While Danna may be younger than the average head football coach, his peers raved about his qualities and how age shouldn’t affect his performance.

“There are a lot of things that come to mind when you think of a guy as tremendous as Tony, both on and off the field,” St. Thomas football coach Glenn Caruso said. “His positive attitude and his mental toughness … I know that he’s well prepared for his position.”

Danna’s former teammate, 2012 St. Thomas graduate Fritz Waldvogel, said he’s known Danna for a long time and believes he is ready for his new position.

“I played with him for all four years of college, plus a little while in high school,” Waldvogel said. “He is a hard worker. He has a nose for it, for instincts. I think that will bode well for him when he starts coaching.”

Among the lessons Danna learned at St. Thomas that he plans to bring to Hill-Murray is preparing players for the next step in their lives.

“When they put their helmets on, they have to be hard-hitting football players,” Danna said. “When they get off the field, they have to be gentlemen and good members of society.”

Danna now takes the helm of a section 4A team that made it to the state quarterfinal game last season and is expecting similar results going forward.

“It’s a little bit of pressure,” Danna said. “You obviously want to do well.”

Hill-Murray is a Catholic school that enrolls grades 7-12, so Danna will be responsible for a middle school team, a freshman team, a junior varsity team and a varsity team.

While Danna won’t directly be in control of the underclassmen teams, he will have authority over them, especially when it comes to coaching decisions and player development.

Hill-Murray’s athletic prowess is centered on its hockey team, but Danna wants to make the football team as prominent as its skating counterpart.

Along with athletics, Danna said he will continue to focus on the traditions that have been a part of Hill-Murray long before his arrival.

“Hill-Murray is such a great academic school,” Danna said. “There’s no doubt that if you’re going to send your child there, it’s going to be to get a great education.”

Danna also said he plans to focus on other Hill-Murray principles such as religion.

Taking control of a 4A football team seems to be a large task, but Danna has a support system in place and plans to lean on it regularly. He communicates with Caruso and plans to use some of the same schemes Caruso runs at St. Thomas. Danna also plans to use the same 3-4 defensive scheme Hill-Murray ran last season.

“Our primary goal is to stop the run, as always,” Danna said. “We want to make the quarterback beat us. I want our offense to control the game … control the clock. We’ll take our shots down the field when necessary, but we want our offense to control the field and put our defense in good positions.”

Caruso said he will help Danna implement some of his playbook and in any other way necessary.

“We are trying to help him implement the (offensive and defensive) schemes we use (at St. Thomas),” Caruso said.

Those on the outside may assume that Danna’s hire was a knee-jerk reaction to the way in which his predecessor left, but he isn’t letting those people affect him.

“We just want to move forward,” Danna said. “It gave us a chance to understand that you can’t put yourself in situations that even give people a chance to start talking about you.”

While the transition to his new position may present challenges, Caruso said his former player will rise to the occasion.

“He has a positive attitude and mental toughness,” Caruso said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that he is well prepared.”

Trevor Walstrom can be reached at wals0505@stthomas.edu.