Vote: Who Is The Florida's North Suncoast 2024 Football Coach Of The Year?
Who was the best high school football head coach on the North Suncoast?
For those that don’t know, that area covers Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties and we have put together a list of the top candidates around. There was plenty of worthy candidates as head coaches work long, countless hours in getting their programs ready for the 2024 season.
Now we have a list of eight head coaches we have identified as the lead men to pick from the North Suncoast region of Florida.
SBLive voting polls are intended to be a fun way to create fan engagement and express support for your favorite high school athletes and teams. Unless expressly noted, there are no awards for winning the voting. Our primary focus is to highlight the abilities and accomplishments of all the athletes and teams included in our poll. You can vote as often as you wish and are encouraged to share our polls with others. - SBLive Sports
Here are the nominations:
Voting will end on February 1st, 2025.
Mark Kantor, Wiregrass Ranch
Leading the Bulls to their best season ever in school history had to speak for itself with Kantor's nomination. Wiregrass Ranch reached the region final round of the Class 6A playoffs, falling to eventual state champion West Boca Raton. Kantor guided the club to a 8-2 record and playoff wins over Royal Palm Beach and Largo, respectively.
Andy Schmitz, Mitchell
Always doing the most with less is how Schmitz and his staff have done things over in Trinity, as the Mustangs rolled to a 11-1 season. Schmitz led the club to a district championship, soundly defeating Wiregrass Ranch for the Class 6A, District 9 title. Mitchell proceeded to dominate Parrish Community in the following round before losing to eventual state champion West Boca Raton.
Dan Goodspeed, Land O' Lakes
Now you're probably wondering how a team that went 4-6 has their head coach on the list. Well, look a little deeper. This is a program that lost a lot from the previous season and expectations on the outside were not high. Goodspeed and his staff ignore that and had the Gators competing in every game, especially against playoff-bound clubs.
Rob Kazmier, Nature Coast
It might not have been your typical dominating kind of season from the Sharks, but Kazmier was able to lead them from a tough stretch to win a playoff game over Mulberry when many didn't think they could. Nature Coast finished 6-6 in Kazmier's last season at the helm.
Tyrone Hendrix, Fivay
The kind of job Hendrix has done over at Fivay spoke volumes about where the Falcons are going as a program. Fivay just narrowly missed out on the playoffs, but the Falcons finished with an impressive 7-3 record.
Antoin Scriven, Lecanto
Being promoted to the position of head coach sometimes isn't an easy transition, but Scriven kept up with the expectations over in Lecanto. Scriven led the Panthers back to the postseason and guided the team to a 6-5 mark.
Bill Vonada, Crystal River
Winning the Class 3A, District 7 championship was a great send off for one of the North Suncoast's best to ever do it as a head coach. Vonada, who has been a head coach at Hernando and Springstead, led the team to a 6-4 mark and back to the postseason was a remarkable feat.
Mike Garofano, Springstead
A pupil of Vonada's is Garofano over at Springstead. The Eagles' lead man guided the club to a 8-3 record and a spot in the Class 5A playoffs. Two of Springstead's three losses came against the same team (Gaither).
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-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi