Apr 30, 2025 By Chris Dugan 3 min read

When Ed Dalton resigned in January of 2024 as head football coach at McGuffey High School after 12 seasons, he stressed that it wasn’t a retirement.

Dalton noted that he wasn’t leaving because another coaching job was on the horizon, but he did want one more challenge. He just didn’t know when or where that coaching job would be.

It turns out the coaching opportunity will be back in Indiana County, where his career started, and will begin this upcoming season.

Dalton was hired Tuesday night to be the head coach at River Valley High School. He received a three-year contract. Dalton was hired by a 5-4 vote.

River Valley is a jointure of Blairsville and Saltsburg. It’s a Class 2A football program. The Panthers had an 8-3 record last year and made the postseason but the head coach was not retained. River Valley plays in PIAA District 6.

“Coach Dalton’s track record speaks for itself – he transforms programs and inspires students to reach their full potential, both on and off the field,” Phillip Martell, River Valley superintendent, said in a release. “His commitment to building a culture of discipline, teamwork, and excellence aligns perfectly with our vision for River Valley.”

At River Valley, Dalton takes over a program that has impressive facilities for a Class 2A school. It has an artificial turf field, a two-sided stadium and a new fieldhouse will be opening soon.

“This is a great opportunity. There were four or five coaching jobs that I could have had, but none matched up like this one,” Dalton said. “The facilities at River Valley are unbelievable. I’d put them up against Norwin’s facilities.”

Dalton, 65, began his head coaching career in Indiana County at Purchase Line in 1987.

“When I resigned at McGuffey, I was going to go to Florida (and coach). That was my intention,” Dalton said Wednesday. “However, something happened and I said no. An offshoot of that was, I was able to spend more time with my grandchildren. … Those have been good times.”

Under Dalton, McGuffey went from a program that had lost 15 consecutive games before his arrival to making the WPIAL playoffs nine times in 12 seasons. The Highlanders won multiple conference championships under Dalton and went into the final week of the regular season with a chance to win at least a share of the conference title in each of his last five years.

Prior to McGuffey, Dalton was the head coach at Trinity for 12 interesting years. It was during this period that the Trinity-Wash High football series ended and twice Dalton had his coaching position opened, only to have the school board rehire him each time.

He also was the head football coach at Mount Pleasant and Altoona, and coached basketball for four years at Purchase Line.

Dalton is one of the winningest head football coaches in Washington County history. He has a 224-144-1 career record, including 78-45 at McGuffey. He won 59 games at Trinity.

Dalton will stay on as McGuffey’s athletic director through June.

“There are just great people here,” Dalton said. “The people are great, the kids are great. I built a lot of relationships here. I’m proud of the coaches. I had a hand in hiring all the coaches here, except volleyball coach JoAnn Harshman, who was here before I arrived, and we’ve become pretty good in every sport.

“I had a great time here. Out here, the kids are so appreciative of everything. They always say thank you. It’s a lot of fun to be around kids like that.”