Leaderboard

Team: Woodham Coach: Don Sharpe

Only a handful of FL hs teams have ever finished the season ranked in the final USA Today poll. The first year of that poll was 1982. One of these few teams no longer exists. Who is it and who was their coach during those glory years?

Some spring games effect rankings for the fall seasons so yea it's necessary

It is Pensacola Woodham, which was open from 1965-2007. The school won state titles in football, basketball and soccer. Don Sharpe was coach at Woodham from 1980-1986. During that time, the Titans, whose uniforms were blue and white, went 60-11. They won 5 district titles, 2 state titles(82 and 84) and were state runner-up in 1985. His 1982 team finished 13-0 and beat Columbus in the 4A title game. 4A was the largest class at the time. That team finished with a #3 ranking in the season-end USA Today poll. The 1984 team finished 13-0 and beat Southridge in the 4A final. The also finished with a #4 ranking in the season-end USA Today poll. Interestingly, in both 82 and 84, the Titans beat Columbia in the second round and Lakeland in the state semis...both times in Lakeland. Woodham's 1984 team was so dominant, it is said that Sharpe once called the same running play 16 times in a row to make the other team stop it. Between 1982-1984, Woodham went 35-1...their only loss to Choctawhatchee 7-6 in a controversial, first round playoff game in 1983. Despite that loss, Woodham finished the 1983 season ranked #17 in the final USA Today poll. Prior to Woodham, Sharpe was a successful coach in Alabama, where he led Andalusia High to a 76-7-2 record in 7 seasons. His teams won a state title and shared another. Overall, Don Sharpe, in his 13 seasons as head coach at high schools in FL and AL, led his teams to an amazing 136-18-2 record, an 88% winning percentage.

Woodham, I believe it is... I heard West Florida was eventually supposed to move into the old Woodham campus, but they use the stadium now for football, soccer, etc.

Yes. Here’s why: 1) Player evaluation. You get to see the guys put on pads and play in a real life situation. How did Timmy look at CB against the best WR in the city? How do John & Jimmy match up against each other come game time? 2) Play-calling evaluation. How did we handle 3rd & 7 or long? How did our 4-2-5 look against a spread offense? 3) Offseason lifting evaluation. Do the guys look bigger, faster, stronger than they did last season? 4) A reward for the kids for putting in the work in spring practice. 5) Establishing that team’s identity. Did you work hard all winter to make the team more physical? Did that work? All the spring is, is an evaluation period. At least for good programs with good coaches. Seeing what went well, what went okay, and what just went to hell. It’s an excellent opportunity to get better and any time you can get better is a necessary and wonderful thing.

Arizona Cardinals just picked up another Cocoa high player DeAndre Barnett. Free agent.

The article was an interesting read. While it did not conclude that the changes to the brain observed resulted in changes in personality or cognitive functions, it did point to significant observed changes in the brain. The size of the sample (16), raises questions. However, with that said, it clearly points to the necessity for more research to be conducted. While I have been a fan of the high school game for over 20 years now, I would not want my entertainment to be at the expense of the young players' futures.

If the STA administration or some Booster/Advertiser thought that derogatory things were said on the Huddle that economically hurt the school or hurt one of the companies that sponsor the school, they could sue the Huddle for damages. It is not beyond the possibility for some local judge to side with STA or one of the supporting companies. Josh would then have to hire a law firm to defend himself for the duration of the proceedings. Even if Josh won it would have cost him many thousands of dollars and a great deal of his time. If Josh did lose then he may be out of business depending on what the verdict is, which could be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, either way, Josh loses and the Huddle may just be out of business. It is thus within Josh's right to mitigate such a possibility, no matter how remote, to protect his business.

To clarify: Nobody has approached Josh regarding legal action. Josh took steps to ensure that nobody does approach him regarding legal action.

Of course it wouldn't make it to court, any sensible judge would laugh at the petty nature of a coach or administrator trying to take a owner of a website to court for statements made by a random poster on his message board but the amount of stress from it wouldn't be fair to Josh so the obvious approach is just not allow those type of comments on the forum to avoid a potential headache

Cocoa hired AD Chuck Goldfarb around 2002 who then proceeded to hire some decent coaches. 2004 Gerald Odom, Former coach of State Champs Merritt Island. Odom brought John Wilkinson on in 2006. Wilks then built a championship caliber team over the next 3 years. The transfers didn't start until after the Cocoa's first championship. A quote from Field of Dream's. "If you build it, they will come."