Brogna resigns as ND football coach

Rico Brogna has resigned after one year as head football coach at Notre Dame High School in Fairfield, the school announced Thursday.

The announcement comes less than a week before the start of training camp. The Lancers finished 1-9 last fall. With a small roster to begin with, injuries left Notre Dame struggling late in the season to dress enough players for games.

The school promoted associate head coach Dawon Dicks to take over for Brogna, the former Major League first baseman whose journeyman coaching career has included stops as a high school basketball coach and a minor league manager in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.

Brogna, who played in parts of eight Major League seasons with five teams, had also been working as a scout for the Tampa Bay Rays.

In an interview last December with Rays Digest, Brogna said the baseball job was his top priority and that he wasn't sure how his future at Notre Dame would play out.

"My job is with the Rays," he said. "It's full-time. To be honest with you -- to answer the best way I know how -- I'm still kind of not sure. But there is no doubt that my Rays' job is my priority. So we'll see about the football."

Notre Dame went 1-9 in Brogna's only season, losing nine straight before winning its last game.

Notre Dame principal Chris Cipriano said in a news release that Brogna would remain a part of the program, but didn't specify Brogna's role.

"As a graduate of Notre Dame and a member of our faculty, Dawon certainly knows of the standards we expect our student-athletes to meet, both on and off the field," Cipriano said of Dicks. "He is the perfect person to guide our football program forward. I also appreciate the hard work Rico has done to help rebuild our program, and I am certainly happy he has agreed to remain a part of the ND community."

Brogna played for the Tigers, Mets, Phillies, Red Sox and Braves between 1994 and 2001. He was a .269 career hitter with 106 home runs, one of which was the first hit at Colorado's Coors Field.