Stephen McCarthy, an alumnus and former assistant football coach at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, has been named the new varsity head football coach, athletic director Mark McCarthy said Friday.

He will replace longtime coach Donald Herman, who retired this year after 28 years leading the team.

“We would like to welcome Steve to our coaching staff and look forward to his leadership,” Mark McCarthy, who is not related to the new coach, said in an email. “Steve stresses academics, teamwork, community service and commitment. One of Steve’s goals is to continue the tradition of football excellence on Martha’s Vineyard.”

Coach Herman’s storied career ended in November with the Vineyard victorious over the Nantucket Whalers in the 37th annual Island Cup. Under his leadership, the Vineyard made eight appearances in the state super bowl, winning five times. Last year he was inducted into the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

The new coach is a local landscaper and 1975 graduate of the regional high school, and he was recently the assistant football coach at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. He helped lead the team to a league championship and state finals.

He was an assistant coach for the Vineyarders from 1997 to 2008, when the team won several Mayflower League Championships and three state championships.

The athletic director said the new coach was chosen from a field of three candidates by a panel comprised of a high school coach, a current football player, and a football player’s parent.