Less than two weeks before the high school preseason starts, Orono athletic director Steve Saunders said Thursday the school has rehired one of its most successful coaches ever to take over the football program.

Wally Covell, who led the Red Riots to two state titles in eight years before leaving the school in 1968, accepted the head football coaching position Thursday. The appointment has yet to go through the school board, which meets Aug. 22.

The school had been advertising the position as late as last weekend.

“It unfolded very quickly,” Saunders said. “I have the sense that Wally knew how late in the game it was and he’s still got some Orono blood in his veins.”

Covell’s Orono teams also won five conference titles, Saunders said. Covell had a 52-11 record in his eight years coaching the Riots.

Covell, a 1955 University of Maine graduate, taught and coached at Bucksport, Madison and Newburyport (Mass.) high schools before returning to Orono in the 1960s.

He also served as the athletic director at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield from 1987-97.

“We’re just thrilled to have him back,” Saunders said. “Everyone’s excited that he’ll be part of our program where he had so much success.”

Covell replaced John Winkin as the Colby College baseball coach in 1974 and also served as an assistant football coach and intramurals director at the school. He left Colby to become the head baseball coach and athletic director at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, N.C.

Although there is a lot of catching up to do before the season starts on Aug. 14, Saunders said Covell met with Orono quarterback-captain Mike Munson this week. Saunders is in the process of hiring assistant coaches.