Vote: Who Is The Florida's North Suncoast 2024 Football Coach Of The Year?

We give you eight candidates that definitely made a case to be the area's coach of the year
Mitchell Mustangs football team
Mitchell Mustangs football team / Alex Walworth

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


Published
Andy Villamarzo
ANDY VILLAMARZO

Andy Villamarzo has been a sports writer in the Tampa Bay (FL) Area since 2007, writing for publications such as Tampa Bay Times, The Tampa Tribune, The Suncoast News, Tampa Beacon, Hernando Sun to name a few. Andy resides out of the Tarpon Springs, FL area and started as a writer with SB Live Sports in the summer of 2022 covering the Tampa Bay Area. He has quickly become one of Florida's foremost authorities on high school sports, appearing frequently on podcasts, radio programs and digital broadcasts as an expert on team rankings, recruiting and much more.