Newport — Newport High football fans expect their team to do well. Over the years, they have entrusted the program to legendary coaches Bob Underhill, Larry Carle and most recently Larry McElreavy, all of whom coached the team to state championships.

Now the pressure of past successes falls on the shoulders of Rich Boone, who was the choice of athletic director Jeff Miller to succeed McElreavy, who is moving out of the area to coach football at Pembroke Academy. The Newport School Board approved Boone, along with coaches of several other varsity sports programs, during a meeting on Thursday night.

Boone, 52, is a 1981 Stevens High School graduate who played tight end and linebacker for coaches Jon Orvis and Tom Fowler as a Cardinal. His 1980 team was a co-champion in the long-gone Connecticut Valley League.

The Tigers are coming off an NHIAA Division III state championship campaign, but graduation did not leave the cupboard bare.

“We have lots of kids coming back, especially along the line of scrimmage,” Miller said. “I expect us to be challenging for a playoff spot.”

Boone agrees with that assessment, and plans on playing the game pretty much the way it was played under McElreavy the past two seasons.

“We’re going to play to our strengths and the other team’s weaknesses,” Boone said. “We’ll go from the spread offense-I formation, preferring to run first and pass second. Defensively, we’ll go with the 4-4 that Fowler taught me at Stevens and mix in a 5-2 and 5-3.”

The new head coach has an extensive coaching background, having worked with Fowler and Garrett Hull at Stevens as well as helping with Newport’s middle school and junior varsity teams. Boone has also did a lot of scouting, and Miller said he believes Boone has seen more films of Division III teams than anybody. He has helped with the Newport wrestling team the past eight years and with the cross country program the past two seasons.

“I’m very excited about this job,” Boone said. “It is something I aspired to do.”

Boone came in second to McElreavy for the head coaching position two years ago, and Miller said he did such a good job at the interview that he seemed like a logical choice this time around.

“It’s a good fit,” Miller said.

Boone will have some familiar faces helping him out, as assistant coaches Bill Thurlow and Kevin Tallman will return. Dennis Borcuk is back to run the junior varsity team and Tom Cummings will coach the middle schoolers.

In addition to approving Boone’s hire, the Newport School Board on Thursday night also hired coaches to fill several other varsity vacancies.

Ross Dole will replace Bill Warnken as the girls varsity basketball coach. Dole has coached the Newport junior varsity the past two seasons and previously was the head girls basketball coach at Stevens.

“This really pleases me,” Dole said. “I’ve had unbelievable support from the players and administration since the first day I walked into the gym.”

Dole was relieved of his duties in the middle of his second season at Stevens in January 2014 when then-athletic director Aaron House and school superintendent Middleton McGoodwin confronted him after suspending two of his players for allegedly being at an adult birthday party at which alcohol was served. Ross protested what he called “my wrongful termination” at the time, saying he’d done nothing wrong and had no control over the situation. The Claremont School Board later declined Dole’s request for a meeting.

Warnken was not asked back to Newport because Miller felt the program was not making the progress he had anticipated.

“My overall assessment of girls basketball made me believe that a change was necessary,” said Miller, who cited the team’s lack of conditioning.

Warnken has since been hired to run the girls varsity program at Keene High School.

Dole will have Gary McCall as his assistant and junior varsity coach. McCall worked with Dole at Stevens and was also released midseason by the school in 2014. McCall has been the Newport Middle School coach the past two winters. Dole, 49, currently has the Tigers in a summer program at Kearsarge High.

In other varsity coaching changes, Chris Martin will take over for Miller running the cross country program, and George Campbell will replace Vince Molesky as the golf coach. Molesky coached the Tigers to NHIAA Division IV state championships the last two years, but left the area last fall to take a golf pro job in southern New Hampshire.

Also, Ethan Jean has been chosen to coach the Newport boys soccer team that debuts this fall.