The Vandals football program will go into the hands of someone who has been on hand—either as a player or a coach—for some very successful days for the Vandals on the gridiron. The Vandalia School Board at their Tuesday night meeting approved the hiring of Jason Clay as the new head football coach. Coach Clay has been the Defensive Coordinator for the past several years for the Vandals—including six playoff years. In fact, Coach Clay was either a player or coach on 8 of the Vandals 11 playoff appearances all time. Coach Clay has been the Vandals head wrestling coach since 2007, with better than 200 dual team wins and 8 State Tournament appearances, and we will stay in that role as well. Coach Clay takes over for John Stout, who retired as football coach after the 2015 season. Vandalia Superintendent of Schools Rich Well says there was an interview committee made up of 3 school board members and 4 former head coaches who interviewed three candidates before making the recommendation to go with Coach Clay.