Robinson has hired Juan Fontela as its new baseball coach, Knights athletic director Marcia Monk announced Wednesday.

Fontela, who turns 31 in August, replaces Brandon Genovesi, who was terminated from the position in April after an alleged physical confrontation with a student while serving as a substitute teacher at Robinson High. It is the first head coaching position at the high school level for Fontela.

“It’s exciting,” Fontela said. “It’s something I always wanted. Playing baseball throughout the years and now having opportunity to be a head coach and run my own program, I’m just thrilled and looking forward to it.”

Fontela served as an assistant last season at Jefferson under Pop Cuesta, and also served as coach this summer for Jefferson’s American Legion team. He also has previously served as an assistant at Leto and Alonso high schools under Landy Faedo.

Fontela graduated in 1996 from Jefferson, where he also played baseball for Cuesta. He went on to play two years at Hillsborough Community College.

Fontela currently is an officer with the Tampa Police Department and serves as the school resource officer at Jefferson High. He said he will remain in that position.

Monk said there were five applicants for the coaching position, which she admitted was “a relatively low number.” All of the applicants were interviewed individually by Monk and brought back for committee interviews, she said.

Monk said one reason Fontela stood out was because of his approach to discipline, adding, “We felt our program needed some discipline in it.”