103 Well-Known Coaches Who Left Programs over the Past 20 Years

[OldSchoolLion]

Below are 103 head coaches who left their roles over the past 20 years after spending 10 or more years as head coach at a school.  Many of these coaches spent 20 or more years at that school.  Unless noted, they are no longer actively coaching hs football in FL.  There could well be some I missed. Feel free to add to the list.

What does it mean?  Well, it is getting harder and harder to find coaches today who have at least 10 years invested at their present school. There are only about 20 active hs coaches in Florida who have been head coach for more than 15 years at their current school.  

We have lost a LOT of great coaching experience over the past 20 years.  Look at some of these names!  It really hits you to see them in one place.  Please share if you have any comments related to how the departure of one of these coaches impacted a program?  

How much have these coaching departures affected the current landscape in hs football?  That's extremely difficult to say.  I do think it is one of a number of factors that must be considered in any discussion of "why" things are so different compared to 20+ years ago.  And if the average coaching experience/tenure of our coaches continues to decline over time, it could have a negative impact on the talent the state produces.

 

Southeast FL-18 teams

American Heritage (Plantation)-Byron Walker-now coach at Archbishop McCarthy

Belen Jesuit-Richard Stuart

Benjamin-Ron Ream

Cardinal Gibbons-Michael Morrill-17 seasons

Cardinal Newman-Sam Budnyk

Carol City-Walt Frazier

Columbus-Chris Merritt

Coral Gables-Joe Montoya

*Ida Baker-Brian Conn-12 seasons-current coach at South Fort Myers

Jupiter-Charlie Persson

*Jupiter Christian-Bill Powers-10 seasons

*Marathon-Lance Martin-12 seasons

Monsignor Pace-Joe Zaccheo

Palmetto(Miami)-Jim Kroll

Pine Crest-Keith Flynn

Plantation-Frank Hepler

St Thomas Aquinas-George Smith

South Dade-Don Drinkhahn

 

Southwest FL-5 teams

Barron Collier-Dave Tanner

Clewiston-Al Morrell

Fort Myers-Sam Sirianni

Immokalee-John Weber

*South Fort Myers-Grant Redhead-moved to Ohio to coach

 

East Central FL-20 teams

Apopka-Rick Darlington

Astronaut-Randy Hallock

Boone-Phil Ziglar-23 seasons

Cocoa-John Wilkinson-13 seasons-current coach at New Smyrna Beach

Edgewater-Bill Gierke-current coach at Orangewood Christian

*East Ridge-Bud O'Hara-11 seasons-current asst coach at Lake Highland Prep

Evans-Bill Gierke-now coach at Orangewood Christian

Lake Brantley-George Clayton-19 seasons

*Lake Highland Prep-Tim Borcky-17 seasons

Mainland-John Maronto

*Martin County-Chuck Kenyon-11 season-current coach at Sebastian River

Melbourne Central Catholic-Mike Riazzi-25 seasons

*Merritt Island-Jeff McLean-11 seasons

*Robinson-Michael DePue-10 seasons

Rockledge-Chuck Wood

Seabreeze-Marc Beach-20 seasons-moved to Georgia

*Sebastian River-Randy Bethel-16 seasons-current asst coach at Vero Beach

Vero Beach-Billy Livings

*Warner Christian-Andy Price-13 seasons-current coach at Spruce Creek

Winter Park-Larry Gergley-26 seasons

 

West Central FL-24 teams

Armwood-Sean Callahan

Cardinal Mooney-Michael Dowling-28 seasons

Chamberlain-Billy Turner-30 seasons-passed away in 2017

Clearwater-Tom Bostic

Crystal River-Earl Bramlett

*Dixie Hollins-Mike Morey-15 seasons

*Dunedin-Mark Everett-11 seasons

Fort Meade-Mike Hayde-left hs coaching to coach at Warner U

Kathleen-Irving Strickland-11 seasons

Lake Gibson-Keith DeMyer

Lake Wales-Rod Shafer-left high school coaching to coach at Warner U

Land O' Lakes-John Benedetto-32 seasons at Land O' Lakes-passed away in 2013

Largo-Rick Rodriguez-15 seasons at Largo

Manatee-Joe Kinnan

North Marion-Craig Damon-13 seasons-works at FHSAA

Riverview(Sarasota)-John Sprague

*Seminole(Pinellas)-Sam Roper-28 seasons

South Sumter-Inman Sherman

Southeast-Paul Maechtle-current coach at Cardinal Mooney

Tampa Catholic-Bob Henriquez

Tampa Jesuit-Dominick Ciao-current coach at Berkeley Prep

Vanguard-Phillip Yancey

*Wesley Chapel-John Castelamare-11 seasons

Zephyrhills-Tom Fisher-20 seasons 

 

Northeast FL-11 teams

Bishop Kenny-Mark Thorson

Bolles-Corky Rogers

Buchholz-Jay Godwin-14 seasons

Fletcher-Joseph Reynolds-20 seasons

Jackson(Jacksonville)-Kevin Sullivan-11 seasons

Palatka-Jim McCool-21 seasons

*Ribault-Anthony Flynn

*Ridgeview-Tom MacPherson-15 seasons-current coach at Orange Park

St Augustine-Joey Wiles

Union County-Robby Pruitt-left FL to coach in Georgia

White (Jacksonville)-Daniel Disch-16 seasons-coaching in German Football League

 

Northwest FL-25 teams

*Arnold-James Hale-13 seasons

Baker-Jeff Webb

Blountstown-Greg Jordan-current coach at Port St Joes

*Cottondale-Mike Melvin-16 seasons

Crestview-Matt Brunson-current coach at Baker

Dixie County-Brent Wilkerson-18 seasons 

*FAMU-Ira Reynolds-13 seasons-current asst coach at Rickards

FAMU-Harry Jacobs

Fort Walton Beach-Mike Owens-15 seasons

Godby-Shelton Crews

*Jay-Elijah Bell-21 seasons

*Liberty County-Grant Grantham-11 seasons

Lincoln-David Wilson

Madison County-Frankie Carroll-moved to Georgia

Milton-Carl Madison

Niceville-Frank Sorrells

North FL Christian-Tim Cokely-coaching in Georgia

Pace-Mickey Lindsey

Pensacola-Mike Bennett-current coach at Escambia

*Pensacola Catholic-Greg Seibert-12 seasons-left to coach in Alabama

*Pensacola Washington-Chet Bergalowski

Pine Forest-Jerry Pollard

Port St Joe-John Palmer

Rutherford-Steve Hardin

Wakulla-JD Jones

 

[OldSchoolLion]

I took a stab at separating the 75 teams in the original post into geographical regions.  The original post has been modified.  All areas of the state have been impacted by these coaching changes...some more than others.    The Panhandle and West Central FL seem to be the hardest hit.

One wonders if the decline of some teams in the Panhandle over the past 15-20 years is in some way tied to the loss of certain coaches.

[DisabledAccount]

Danny Green was coach at Columbia from 1995-2003 and 2005-2007

[DisabledAccount]

Also i think Suwannee coach Mike Pittman spent 10+ years at Suwannee in 80s and 90s but i not sure how to confirm it because i don't have Suwannee's records 

[OldSchoolLion]

3 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

Also i think Suwannee coach Mike Pittman spent 10+ years at Suwannee in 80s and 90s but i not sure how to confirm it because i don't have Suwannee's records 

Thanks, but the list was intended to identify coaches who left within the past 20 years.  Pittman left in 1996.

[DisabledAccount]

3 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:

Thanks, but the list was intended to identify coaches who left within the past 20 years.  Pittman left in 1996.

Ok i wasn't sure

 

Did the coaches have to be 10 years consecutive or total? 

[Cat_Scratch]

Some legends in that list.

To name a few I know of that will be hard to replace if ever.

Monsignor Pace-Joe Zaccheo
St Thomas Aquinas-George Smith
Cocoa-John Wilkinson
Mainland-John Maronto
Rockledge-Chuck Wood
Manatee-Joe Kinnan
Bolles-Corky Rogers

[gatorman-uf]

15 hours ago, Cat_Scratch said:

Some legends in that list.

To name a few I know of that will be hard to replace if ever.

Monsignor Pace-Joe Zaccheo
St Thomas Aquinas-George Smith
Cocoa-John Wilkinson
Mainland-John Maronto
Rockledge-Chuck Wood
Manatee-Joe Kinnan
Bolles-Corky Rogers

Sadly Cardinal Newman is on it's 4th coach in 14 years after 45 years of Coach Budnyk. Sure, he never won the big one (in football), but he was a champion on and off the field in other ways (as many of these coaches are). 

 

[OldSchoolLion]

Mark Everett was the head coach at Dunedin High in Pinellas County for 11 seasons.  He was fired after their 2009 season, when they finished 1-9.  In the 4 seasons prior to that , Dunedin had a combined record of 31-15 and won their first playoff game in 19 years.  Since then, they have had 5 different coaches.  Over the past 5 years, the program is 3-46 and they have not won a game since October of 2014.

This is one of a number of cases I have observed whereby a long-term coach resigned or got fired, and the program deteriorated afterward.  Even though a coach may not be bringing home a lot of hardware, sometimes he is the glue that keeps a program from falling apart. 

 

[OldSchoolLion]

25 names have been added to the original post.  Please note the asterisk to the left of the school name for ease of finding the additions.  To the best of my knowledge, only 17 of the 100 are actively coaching hs football in Florida.  Those entries are bolded.

Amongst those 83 coaches who have passed away, retired, or moved on to coach in college and/or other states, I would say there is easily over 1500 years of head coaching experience between them....a huge loss.

Approximately half of those 83 coaches coached in West Central Florida or the Panhandle.  That may be a function of coaches there tending to stay longer in one place than in other parts of the state.  Only 7 public school coaches from south Florida are amongst those 83. 

[OldSchoolLion]

After 30 years at Jupiter, Charlie Persson stepped down after the 2011 season.  Though they were certainly never a power, they had some reasonable good years in the 90' and 00's and even won a couple of playoff games.  Since his departure, Jupiter is 7-52 .

[OldSchoolLion]

Robinson seems to be a program that dropped off after Mike DePue left.  He was there 10 seasons and reeled off some goof playoff wins in seasons 7-10.  That including a semi appearance his last season in 2012.  Since then, Robinson is a combined 19-28 and has not made the playoffs. 

[OldSchoolLion]

Chamberlain is a program that seemed to be negatively impacted by the departure of their coach of 30 seasons, Billy Turner.  He retired after the 2008 season.  Chamberlain made the playoffs routinely in the 00's, and even made a state final appearance in 2001, which they lost by 4 points.  

In the 8 seasons after Turner left, Chamberlain was a combined 22-58.  They had a good season in 2017, so hopefully their recovery is in motion. 

Billy Turner passed away last year.