Jeremy Thornton is returning home to become the new head football coach at Madison East High School.

Thornton will return to the east side after five years at Madison West and will take over coaching duties immediately. Thorton is a 2004 Madison East graduate and former star football player. In 2003, he was an honorable-mention selection as a quarterback on The Associated Press all-state football team and a first-team pick on the Big Eight’s all-conference team. In his senior season, he led the Purgolders to an 8-1 season, a conference championship and its first playoff birth in over a decade.

Thornton, who grew up on Madison’s north side, was Madison West’s interim athletic director during the 2016-17 school year. Previous to that, he was an assistant coach in a variety of sports for several years.

Madison East football team had a 2-7 this past season finishing ninth in the Big Eight.

Thorton replaces Steve Erato, who had a 7-39 mark in five years at East. He resigned in May.