Palm Beach Central Coach resigns for a position in Georgia

[561_Fan]

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/highschool/fl-sp-pbc-ierulli-20190118-story.html#nt=oft03a-1la1

[DarterBlue2]

It happens a lot. Florida cannot compete financially. It's that simple. 

[FL_HS_football]

What school in Georgia is he going to?

[954gator]

4 hours ago, DarterBlue2 said:

It happens a lot. Florida cannot compete financially. It's that simple. 

Serious question...why is this the case?  Since when is Ga such a rich state?  I mean I agree and it's true, but why?  I highly doubt this was always the case.   

[badbird]

10 minutes ago, 954gator said:

Serious question...why is this the case?  Since when is Ga such a rich state?  I mean I agree and it's true, but why?  I highly doubt this was always the case.   

Florida is one of the worst states when it comes to paying teachers.  Coaching supplements are pathetic to be polite.  

[DarterBlue2]

1 hour ago, 954gator said:

Serious question...why is this the case?  Since when is Ga such a rich state?  I mean I agree and it's true, but why?  I highly doubt this was always the case.   

Georgia is relatively poor, poorer than Florida. But football, even at the high school level, has the ear of those that matter. It's reflected in attendance at games. So, that influence leads to coaches getting a much better deal. 

It is very hard for a Florida coach with an offer in Georgia to turn it down unless he is financially independent or is not motivated by money.  

[OldSchoolLion]

Before I lived in Georgia, I have to admit, I had this image of it being a very backward state.  Boy, was I surprised on many fronts, ie education, medical care for the elderly, etc.  I haven't lived there in many years, but am assuming they are still pretty progressive.

What most impressed me is the genuine care they have for the well-being of the youth, especially in smaller communities.  

Hover over the bars of each state at the link for detailed information.

http://www.governing.com/gov-data/education-data/state-education-spending-per-pupil-data.html

 

[954gator]

5 hours ago, badbird said:

Florida is one of the worst states when it comes to paying teachers.  Coaching supplements are pathetic to be polite.  

Well I know the situation, but I was just wondering where/when it all went wrong?   

[FL_HS_football]

Like to touch on a couple of different things I encountered in both Florida and Georgia regarding education. I moved around while in HS in the late 70's, my curriculum was all adv college prep. When I moved from Manatee County to Leon County...(mind you this is where the state capital is located as well as major public university), I went to 2 different HS - Rickards and Lincoln. Neither school offered a number classes I had been taking at Manatee, and I found I was way advanced in as far as what I had already learned at Manatee HS versus what was being taught at both Rickards and Lincoln. I basically went from middle of the pack in my nerd status at Manatee HS, to elite status in Leon county......It shocked me that there would be such a difference from one county to the next in the state of Florida educationally. Now I cant provide a current state of what the educational level is from one county to the next, but for me at that time it was eye opening!

I moved to Georgia (early 90's), when my kids were in middle school and elementary school level. I moved to Clarke county within the city limits of the city of Athens. Athens is also the home of a major public university, when my friends would ask me what I thought about Georgia one of my commonly used remarks was....."well you have Atlanta and then the rest of Georgia" which I found to be incredibly rural. In fact if not for UGA being in Athens I found it to be no different from every other Georgia town. I again found the level of education to be lacking over-all in Georgia, compared to what I was used to in Manatee County. Teachers were however paid much better in Georgia than Florida. Regarding Sports and football in particular I found most counties outside of the Atlanta area to be one HS towns, which in its self leads to a high degree of community involvement because you don't have multi school diversion. I don't think at the time you didn't have the same level of state over-sight in Georgia as you had in Florida.......So communities had more autonomy over its county school operations than again what you had in state of over-sight in Florida...which could be a source of pay disparity for coaches in as far Georgia versus Florida. Growth over the last 10+ years in Georgia has really picked up, so alot of the long accepted norms regarding football might eventually become something that gets greater attention...particularly with those in Georgia's population that have migrated here from other parts of the country? I feel GA is over taxed as you have a state income tax as well as a sales tax that often times is on par with what you see in Florida.................I personally cant stand the state of Georgia and since I recently retired I'm evaluating where I want to go. My heart is telling me go back to Florida, but other than the Gulf of Mexico......Manatee County when I visit has changed for the worse......much worse in fact!

Football wise Ive not been able to get into the HS football scene here at all.......maybe Im just way too biased about Florida to allow my mind to open to it. The Gwinnett area has put out its share of quality teams, Buford HS is just down the road from me. Clarke Central HS was still a state power in Athens with Billy Henderson coaching when I moved here......so its not because I dont have opportunities to see quality HS football..................something about Georgia in general just turns me off......if it hadnt been for the job I would have gotten out long ago..............again being retired now has allowed me to ponder my options.....I don't anticipate staying much longer.

[DarterBlue2]

1 hour ago, FL_HS_football said:

I personally cant stand the state of Georgia and since I recently retired I'm evaluating where I want to go. My heart is telling me go back to Florida, but other than the Gulf of Mexico......Manatee County when I visit has changed for the worse......much worse in fact!

Football wise Ive not been able to get into the HS football scene here at all.......maybe Im just way too biased about Florida to allow my mind to open to it. The Gwinnett area has put out its share of quality teams, Buford HS is just down the road from me. Clarke Central HS was still a state power in Athens with Billy Henderson coaching when I moved here......so its not because I dont have opportunities to see quality HS football..................something about Georgia in general just turns me off......if it hadnt been for the job I would have gotten out long ago..............again being retired now has allowed me to ponder my options.....I don't anticipate staying much longer.

Sorry to hear that. What are the major changes and what do you think caused them?

[FL_HS_football]

West Bradenton where I grew up and bought my 1st house (just 2 blocks away from Manatee HS) was always representative of middle America, when I come in to town now for visits, its easy to see middle America has moved from West Bradenton to the Lakewood Ranch area in and around I75 between HWY 64 and HWY 70 . The area around Prine Elementry where I walked to school as a kid, has become a area that is infected with crime. I could on and on....I make the drive around my old stomping grounds when I'm down visiting, and find it depressing to see what it has become. As far as what caused this???? Im not sure like I said I've been away since Sept of 1993, all I see is the manifestation of what it has become.

 

 

[DarterBlue2]

Thanks. I have been to a couple games at Manatee in the not too distant past. The last one was in 2013, when I saw them play University School. The area around the school itself, did not look dangerous to me. In fact, if I remember correctly, I parked my car on the street and walked a few blocks to the school's stadium which was across the street from the school. But I have no perspective on what the area used to be like, nor can I vouch for the rest of West Bradenton.

The school's main building reminded me of what is now Howard Middle School in Orlando, but had been Orlando High School before it morphed into two separate schools, Boone High and Edgewater High.   

[FL_HS_football]

The Campus itself was basically completely rebuilt not too long ago, originally the present campus comprised of Walker Jr HS "Tornados" and then the Manatee HS campus.....believe it was in the early 60's the concept of a Junior HS was abandon and the 2 campuses were combined to form what is now Manatee HS. I can completely understand having to park on the street for games that drew large attendances like that game did.......I remember the screen play to Jordon Scarlet, that he took it.... I want to say 80+ yards for a TD. The QB for University I want to say his name was White.....didn't he end up at Auburn? You know Cord Sandberg gave up baseball and is at Auburn now........wondering since the Auburn QB has declared, if Cord will be in the mix for the starting QB next year?  As far as parking if you to go to another game, turn down 11th Ave west and drive straight until you run into the school, make a right and you can for $5.00 get parking on campus.....of course getting there early enough will determine whether they'll be available spots.                                                                                                                                                       When I attended Manatee it wasn't air conditioned at all, the brick building that faces Hawkins Stadium I had an advance English lit class with Mr Tillett on the 2nd floor. Because the windows were typically open, us guys used to have contest to see who could design the best paper airplane and fly those planes from the window of our class on the 2nd floor, across the street and into the area that would have been part of Hawkins Stadium..........fun times!

[OldSchoolLion]

22 hours ago, DarterBlue2 said:

Sorry to hear that. What are the major changes and what do you think caused them?

Hi Darter, 

I'll take a stab at it.  I've watched Sarasota/Bradenton evolve over the past 50 years....big growth in population but not comparable job growth in good-paying jobs for the middle class.  Tropicana was the big game in town.  I knew a manager there.  They cut about 250 jobs in the early 90's.  Pepsico took over in the late 90's and it has been downhill for the employees ever since.

https://www.heraldtribune.com/article/LK/20031203/news/605236269/SH/

It's happening everywhere.  Look what happened on the east coast this past year with Sea Ray.  https://www.clickorlando.com/news/sea-ray-closing-operations-in-brevard-flagler-dooming-800-jobs

Blue collar folks without a college degree are struggling to make a good living because the manufacturing base is disappearing.  Don't believe the hype about unemployment numbers and job growth.  Spin doctors at work!

 

 

[FL_HS_football]

 "Tropicana was the big game in town.  I knew a manager there.  They cut about 250 jobs in the early 90's,"

Not So Fast My Friend:

1st I wouldn't say Tropicana was ever the big game in town. It was and is located in the absolute worst part of Bradenton - (East Bradenton), the folks that primarily worked there were from that part of East Bradenton. It was never a major employer in Bradenton. It was a family based operation "Anthony Rossi an Italian immigrant started it" and I want to say his way of operation in approach to the way of running it was similar to how Mr. Cathy operated Chick Fil A.....in that it had a very strong Christian influence. When Rossi died and the family sold it............ once the corporate types got in they began a systematic change in how it ran from a business standpoint. One of the 1st things they  did was shut down the Christian book store located onsite, it was all down hill from there as it was all about making money! I want to say what led to the decline of Bradenton was building as well as the fad that was at the time...... of the mobile home industry and mobile home parks  eventually subsided......also I cant tell you how many family farms have went by the way side. Bradenton was and still is a huge retirement community.................the snow brids would decend on Bradenton in early Oct and stay until just after Easter. This is where Bradenton found its financial viability.......it was never a manufacturing based community. Bayshore HS was a middle school before it became a HS in 1974........I practice youth football in the front on the school when it was still a middle school. Across the street were huge tracts of farm lands......Bolleterri Tennis academy was eventually built there and it eventually became IMG , to give you example of the farming industry that has gone away. I think Harlee farms has sold out as well.....they were huge employers as well and much of the subsequent processing and packaging when crops were harvested have gone away.

Like I said earlier, once I75 was completed everything shifted that way and folks left West Bradenton and headed out to the area around I75.......is why you have 3 new HS out there now. West Bradenton where Manatee HS is located is just a slow decaying area now.

[OldSchoolLion]

Tropicana is and always was one of the biggest employers in Manatee County.I'm sure there are many reasons for the decline in Bradenton.  My point was simply that a blue collar guy in many towns around the country like Bradenton used to be able to make $60-80k per year working in the factory, and those jobs have been declining over the years.  

 

Manatee County - Largest Employers

#	Employer Name	Employees	Industry
1.	Manatee County School District	5,448	Public Education
2.	Beall's Inc.	1,694	City Government
3.	Manatee County Government	1,625	City Government
4.	Manatee Memorial Hospital	1,150	Hospital
5.	Manatee County Sheriff's Dept	1,081	Law Enforcement
6.	Tropicana Products, Inc.	1,000	Beverages
7.	Blake Medical Center	849	Hospital
8.	IMG Academies	640	Sports Training
9.	Publix	639	Grocery store
10.	Feld Entertainment	563	Live Entertainment
11.	TriNet	550	HR Solutions
12.	SCF Manatee - Sarasota	500	Post-Secondary Education
13.	City of Bradenton	481	City Government
14.	SYSCO West Coast Florida, Inc.	470	Food Distribution
15.	Pierce Manufacturing	400	Manufacturing

 

[FL_HS_football]

I love that you're able to pull stats like you do, but the thing with you that's no different than what I dealt with in the work place????? Is someone that throws out numbers to support their weak narrative. Well as I told more than a few along the way, "don't try BS'ing a BS'er" You realize that based on the employment numbers you tried throwing out, for Tropicana that represents only .26% of the total Manatee County population (that's less than 1 percent)......like I said Tropicana was not a major employer of folks living in Manatee county.

[peezy28]

On 1/19/2019 at 11:32 PM, DarterBlue2 said:

Thanks. I have been to a couple games at Manatee in the not too distant past. The last one was in 2013, when I saw them play University School. The area around the school itself, did not look dangerous to me. In fact, if I remember correctly, I parked my car on the street and walked a few blocks to the school's stadium which was across the street from the school. But I have no perspective on what the area used to be like, nor can I vouch for the rest of West Bradenton.

The school's main building reminded me of what is now Howard Middle School in Orlando, but had been Orlando High School before it morphed into two separate schools, Boone High and Edgewater High.   

Well of course you had me and the homie Mark Cannon for protection... and of course me know you always carry the Machete so there was never any cause for concern LOL.

But I agree... didn't seem to be in a bad spot but I did not see it back in the day either.