As spring football has kicked off for most teams in the Sunshine State, the excitement and eagerness for the upcoming 2024 season is high. We delve into the Top 10 most intriguing coaching hires that have been made since the 2023 season ended, setting the stage for an exciting and highly anticipated season ahead.
1. Teddy Bridgewater, Miami Northwestern
The ultimate splash hire of ultimate splash hires, the former first-round quarterback is diving straight into coaching after retiring from the NFL in a career that expanded for nearly a decade and with six different teams, including the Minnesota Vikings, who drafted him in 2014, and the New Orleans Saints. With this ultimate splash hire, Bridgewater is familiar with the Bulls program after leading the Bulls to the Class 6A state championship game in 2008 and breaking various records over his three-year career as the starting signal caller. With Bridgewater returning to the school with a football field that bears his name, the question will now be how he will fare in his first-ever high school coaching position and whether he can bring back the former glory that the Bulls once had. We are filled with hope and anticipation to see how Bridgewater’s leadership will shape the Bulls’ performance in the 2024 season.
2. Max Edwards, Miami Jackson
After leading the Miami Northwestern Bulls to multiple state titles not too long ago, the Generals of Miami Jackson gained a coach that could have them in contention for state championships in short order. After sitting out of the head coaching ranks in 2023 after the Bulls let Edwards go following the 2022 season, Edwards will have the chance to become a part of an elite group of coaches that have won multiple state championships in Miami-Dade County at more than one program. We are excited to see what Edwards does with the Generals after many years of up-and-down seasons.
3. Bobby Ramsay, Andrew Jackson (Jacksonville)
The guy who coached former Heisman trophy winner Derrick Henry at Yulee and then guided Carson Beck on the path that saw Mandarin (Jacksonville) as the Mustangs won the 2018 Class 8A state championship is now on to see what he can do next. After spending the past couple of seasons with Impact Christian (Jacksonville), helping them transition from an 8-man program to an 11-man one, Ramsay is jumping back into public school football. Ramsay has a knack for turning programs from doormats to winners, and the Tigers, who made the playoffs last year with a 3-6 record, will see Ramsay come in and try to turn the Tigers around. The biggest question will be to find his next Derrick Henry or Carson Beck at a school that usually has anywhere from 700 to 800 students in enrollment every school year. We will watch how the Tigers do under Ramsay’s leadership.
4. Mark Whittemore, Buchholz (Gainesville)
Color us shocked; we did not see this one coming, with Buchholz returning the reins to Whittemore after head coach Chuck Bell led the team for one season and stepped down after the Bobcats reached their third consecutive state semifinal appearance in 2023. We truly thought Whittemore was done with coaching, but here we are, and Whittemore is back to lead the Bobcats. Now the question will be to see what he can do with the roster as star player Myles Graham is on to the Florida Gators while Trace Johnson is back after a stellar sophomore season, and that should give Whittemore a path to keep the Bobcats on the winning path.
5. Jerrime Bell, Mainland (Daytona Beach)
After turning around things the past three years at Atlantic (Port Orange), which was capped with a district championship, Bell is going home to his alma mater, where he takes over from his first-cousin Travis Roland, who departed for Camden County, Georgia, after three years, that included winning the Class 3S State Championship. While Atlantic was a perfect first-time job for Bell, going home to Mainland, who has not missed the playoffs in over three decades, will have a taller task ahead than the pressures he had the last three years. Although it is exciting for Bell to return home, we are curious to see how he can keep the glue together from last year’s state championship run, which was the first for the Buccaneers in two decades. Time will tell if Bell can follow in his first cousin’s footsteps.
6. James Wilder Jr., Chamberlain (Tampa)
The Plant (Tampa) and FSU alum is taking on his first head coaching job after spending the last few years working through assistant coaching rankings at Jefferson (Tampa) and Plant. Wilder will take over a Storm program that has struggled since legendary head coach Billy Turner retired in 2008 and suffered a winless season in 2023. The biggest question here will be whether Wilder’s name will resonate enough to pull in potential athletes from other programs and to keep current athletes at Chamberlain. With other programs in Hillsborough County that have had great success lately, like Armwood (Seffner), Tampa Bay Tech, and Plant, Wilder will certainly face his fair share of challenges as a first-year head coach.
7. Curt Bradley, Southeast (Bradenton)
After doing all he could to make Braden River (Bradenton) a top-tier program in Manatee County and Florida for the past 12 years, Bradley is stepping up for a new challenge at crosstown rival Southeast. A once proud and state-championship-winning program that has produced many college and pro athletes (think along the lines of Peter Warrick, for instance), the Seminoles are looking for a revamp that will start with Bradley coming to replace Brett Timmons, a Southeast alum. Bradley’s winning ways and coaching style are popular among those in the South Suncoast part of the state. The question will be whether Bradley can duplicate those successes from Braden River to wins for the Seminoles, given the age of open transfers. We will see how 2024 fairs for Bradley to gauge what that future looks like.
8. Mike Gregory, Tampa Catholic
After being away from the Crusaders for seven years, Gregory returns back to the place where he became a head coach after spending time in the college ranks and at IMG Academy (Bradenton) in various assistant positions. Gregory takes over for Jeris McIntyre, who had a successful six-year run as the head coach and will look to keep things going in the right path. We are curious to see how Gregory’s second stint as the head coach will go, given that a lot has changed in Florida in the last seven years, including open enrollment being a huge factor in the race for having the best talent on a roster at any given program.
9. Adam Gore, Chiefland
Here we are back with Adam Gore for a third time as the Indians’ head man, and the past two stints have been successful as Gore did not miss the playoffs as the head man in the 2017-2018 season and the 2021 season. It is not like Gore ever left Chiefland, a staple of the school’s administration and well-loved by the community. Gore takes over after the Indians were led by James Corbin the past two seasons, who stepped down due to family reasons after the 2023 season. Gore has a chance to give the Indians a shot of making deeper playoff runs, and with this being a rural program, keeping talent home with two other programs in the county, including a surging Williston program, will be critical.
10. Allen “BJ” Johnson, Trinity Christian (Deltona)
Johnson is back to coaching after his last stint at Pine Ridge (Deltona) ended after health issues arose; he is now back for his second stint at the private Christian school in Volusia County. Unlike the last time when Johnson was at Trinity Christian competing in an FHSAA district, the Eagles are members of the Sunshine State Athletic Association’s 11-man league that consists of private and charter schools. Between his stints with Trinity Christian, Johnson’s other stint included time at Deltona, completing the rarity of having coached at all three high school programs in the city limits of Deltona. Now, Johnson will face the tall task of rebuilding Trinity Christian back to a winning program that has struggled to put wins together over the last few seasons, and it will be interesting to see if he can bring the excitement back to a program that once was winning multiple games each year.
