Hillsborough County is home to some of the best football in the state. The county is home to two reigning state champions and home to another just one year removed. Although the county has seen enormous amounts of success it has also seen an abnormal amount of jobs continue to remain vacated. Fifteen head coaching jobs between this year and last have become available.
For many of the successful programs, it’s no secret that stability in the coaching staff is a staple. We spoke with three of the top assistant coaches in the county. They each have a number of things in common, one of them being that they have been with the same head coach for more than 15 years.
John Few, co-defensive coordinator at Plant, joined Robert Weiner in 1990; both were assistants at Jesuit. Weiner left Jesuit in 2003 to coach baseball in Crystal River. In 2004 Weiner took over as the head football coach at Plant; Few would join him a year later in 2005 where the pair has been dominating since.
Matt Thompson, defensive coordinator at Armwood, has a unique bond to head coach Sean Callahan. Thompson played for Callahan in the 1980’s and would later join the staff as a defensive line coach in 1994. He coached under Tom Allen, who is now the special teams coordinator and linebackers coach at Ole Miss, from 1994 until he took over the defense in 2003.
Dean Eychner, defensive coordinator at Hillsborough, joined the Terriers’ staff in 1995 when a mutual friend in the coaching world brought him and Earl Garcia together. Eychner had been at Bloomingdale for four years, but the Bulls were going through a coaching change and the time was right for him to join the Hillsborough staff.
“It takes more than just a whistle around your neck to put together a team and get it where you want to get it.” — Dean Eychner, Hillsborough High School
A good program starts at the top – no, not the head coach. It starts even higher; the administration. Then, the trickledown effect occurs.
“You don’t win without good kids and good structure around you – good community support and good administration support,” Few said. “[You have to have] good parental support and a supportive head coach that lets you do your own thing without micromanaging you.”
Few, Thompson and Eychner all agree that to be committed to taking a head coaching job they need to know administration is behind them.
Thompson points to the “revolving door with administration” that makes things even more difficult. He says that in 2004 the head job at Plant City job became available. Thompson previously taught at Plant City so he knew the school well. The Plant City Athletic Director knew she wanted Thompson and pursued him heavily. He says that he gave the application a lot of thought, but ultimately did not apply.
“You got to look at what happens to administrators. Everything is good about it, but how long is that administrator going to be there?” Thompson asked rhetorically. “It used to be that you were a principal or an assistant principal and you would stay there, but now you have such turnover [promotions, retirement] that the revolving door with the administration makes things difficult.”
This particular administrator was promoted the following year.
Eychner says that he thinks being a head coach is in the back of every coach’s mind, but you have to look at each situation individually.
“I hunted around earlier in my career and I’ve had overtures here and there; I’m always humbled by them,” he said. “But for me it’s always been a case that the minuses outweigh the pluses.”
For Few, things are unique. He is not a teacher – he works as a Financial Advisor at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and has never been paid for his coaching services.
“I’ve been coaching for 22 years and I’ve never taken a penny, but I’ve got a lot of free t-shirts and a lot of free meals,” he said with laughter. Few continues to coach for the same reasons that every other coach does; the kids.
“I do it to positively influence young lives. I get more out of this than them. I personally have a passion for the game of football,” he said. “You don’t do this unless you have this same passion and I can guarantee you that every coach that does this, whether paid or unpaid, is doing it because they love football.”
“They’re the most grossly underpaid human beings on the face of the earth.” – John Few, Plant High School
“There really are a lot of good coaches out there and I don’t think there is enough credit around. It’s not about money. It’s more about the respect factor for what we do,” Eychner said. “We all have to make a living and in today’s environment, especially with the things we do on the side to help kids get into colleges and stuff, I just think a little respect in some circles would go a long ways.”
It starts with the hiring process. For staffs around the county head coaches have to rely on fewer than five paid assistants. Thompson compared Florida’s system to that of Georgia.
“One of the most important things I think, and the thing we’re lucky to have here at Armwood, is that other than Sean we have three coaches on staff,” he explained. “That is nothing compared to other states. Go to Georgia; it’s almost a whole staff that is part of the paid coaching staff.
“Georgia, they just do things a little different. I think if they [Hillsborough County] put a little more importance on the hiring … but then again you aren’t going to get the best applicants for $3,000 a year or whatever it is.”
What will it take for any of these coaches to put on the head-coaching hat?
Money is never a reason to take a head coaching job, especially when you’re putting in countless hours for a little more than $3,000 a year. All three coaches agreed that if you’re doing it for the money then you aren’t doing it for the right reasons.
The bottom line when it comes to landing a top head coach is that the coach has to connect with the school.
Eychner feels humbled by the support he gets around the community. He says that he counts his blessings daily and is happy to be with coach G, but says he would still listen to the possibilities of becoming a head coach down the road.
“I want to be able to feel comfortable knowing that both I and the people that are welcoming me are on the same page and we’ll attack our mission together,” he said of what it would take for him to accept a head coaching job.
“If I see that opportunity and I can find some people to join us and can help accomplish the mission then I’ll consider it. Right now where I’m at we have great administration, a great principal, a great head coach to work for and I just count my blessings in the respect every day. Unless something dramatic really pops up here we’ll just take it year by year and be happy with the blessing we’ve got.”
Thompson downplayed his interest of taking a head job in the county. He was a part of the Armwood family that helped build the Hawks into a winning program, a national powerhouse. His first season in Seffner the team finished a dismal 2-8; two years later the Hawks went 9-1 and made the playoffs.
“To go from a state championship team to one of these other schools would be tough,” Thompson says. He has pride in Armwood. Each time he tried explaining what would be a circumstance he’d consider taking a head job elsewhere he stumbled and stated how hard it would be to leave because how much he loves the Hawks.
“It’s so hard to establish a program in this county and to get coaches in. I don’t know how much longer Sean has, but I would probably definitely go for the head job at Armwood if Sean ever did retire one year,” he explained. “You got to have the right guy in there.
For Few things are different. He has a successful career outside of football and intends to continue doing both. “I get the best of all worlds. I have a regular job where I can make a regular living and I coach football,” he said.
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Coach Few left me with a metaphor that fits the bill for all three of these coaches to a tee.
“You can shake a tree and there will be 10 guys that fall out and know their X’s and O’s, but there’s only going to be two or three that fall out that can translate that to kid language and get the kids to execute.”
These three coaches have showed that they can do just that. They will all deflect the praise and say it’s a group effort, which it is. But sometimes you must give credit where credit is due. If any team is ever able to land Few, Thompson or Eychner as their head guy they’d better do what head coaches Weiner, Callahan and Garcia have done for all this time; hold onto them tightly.
Follow Kyle on Twitter @KyleBennettUT