COACHES MOVING VAN NOTEBOOK: Blountstown promotes assistant coach; Cypress Bay, Stranahan hire new coaches

Blountstown promotes Beau Johnson to head coach

In news we first broke back on Thursday night, Blountstown assistant coach Beau Johnson has been promoted to head coach, replacing Greg Jordan who recently took the head coach and athletic director position at Port St. Joe.

#BREAKING: Beau Johnson, a longtime assistant coach at Blountstown and other schools in around the Big Bend-area has been named the new head coach for the Tigers. Takes over for Greg Jordan who recently took the HC/AD position at Port St. Joe. #flhsfb

— FloridaHSFootball.com (@FlaHSFootball) February 9, 2018

Johnson, who has been a long time assistant coach in schools in the Big Bend-area in Florida as well as some time in Georgia, will take over a Tigers team that reached the Class 1A state championship game in Orlando where they fell to Madison County. He will also become the school’s athletic director.

He was selected from unanimously out of a pool of five remaining candidates out of an initial pool of over 50 applicants.

Cypress Bay, Stranahan find new coaches

Cypress Bay (Weston) has hired former South Broward athletic director and head football coach Josh Shapiro to lead the Lightning this fall, taking over for the legendary Mark Guandolo who stepped down after the 2017 season, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Shapiro, who has been at South Broward (Hollywood) the past four years, is no stranger to Cypress Bay, having been on the staff as an offensive coordinator when the school opened back in 2002. He has also coached at Everglades (Miramar) and Nova (Davie) prior to his time at South Broward.

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Former Everglades athletic director, Carlos Menendez will be joining the staff as defensive coordinator, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

Meanwhile, at Stranahan (Fort Lauderdale), former alum and Deerfield Beach defensive line coach Travis Harden has been hired to lead the Dragons.

https://twitter.com/tharden1983/status/960996141776232448

Harden, who has coaching stops as an assistant at Plantation and Boyd Anderson (Lauderdale Lakes) will be making his head coaching debut, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

“It’s just so good to come back home and get that Dragon pride back on the rise,” told the Sun-Sentinel. “Our identity we’re going to establish defensively is we’re going to be fast, aggressive and some tackling machines.”

Lakewood Ranch hires former Navy assistant to lead Mustangs

Lakewood Ranch (Bradenton) has turned to a former Navy assistant to lead the Mustangs for the foreseeable future.

According to the Bradenton Herald, the Bradenton school hired Chris Culton officially on Friday to replace Mike Koczersut who resigned in back in January after four years with the team.

Culton, who has been working in the private sector for the last few years, comes to Lakewood Ranch after having 14 years experience as an assistant coach for the Navy Midshipmen and is no stranger to the landscape around the North Suncoast-area where his father played for Manatee (Bradenton) and knows several of the area’s head coaches through college or high school football playing days.

ON THE FORUMS: Coaches Moving Van Notebook for February 11, 2018

The Cocoa Beach native beat out a field of more than 100 applicants that was narrowed down to six finalists, according to the Herald.

Bozeman hires Griffin to lead the Bucks

Bozeman (Panama City), located in the northern rural section of Bay County, has found their new leader to lead the Bucks in 2018.

On Thursday, the school announced they hired 43-year-old Jason Griffin to succeed Lyle Messer who resigned in January following four seasons as the head coach, according to the Panama City News Herald.

Griffin is no stranger to the football landscape around the Panhandle, having played his high school football career at Rutherford (Panama City) under Steve Hardin and recently as an assistant coach at Arnold (Panama City Beach).

Griffin will take over a program that has only been to the playoffs once (2012) and finished with a 5-4 record this past season, just sitting outside the top four for a playoff spot in Class 1A-Region 2.