Riverview to announce Mike Thornton as their new head football coach. After months of deliberation and numerous applicants, the Riverview Sharks will go with former Cypress Bay head football coach, Michael Thornton. Thornton is the son of long time East Bay head football coach, Brian Thornton, who resigned prior to the 2011 season just shy of 100 career wins.

The Sharks have not had a winning seasons since the 2005 and 2006 when Dan O’Regan lead the team to a 10-2 record and District Champions (2006) and a 7-3 season the following year.

Michael Thornton, who played under his father in the mid 1990s and became an assistant for several years at East Bay, has been the head coach at 4A Cypress Lake in Fort Myers, where he posted a 6-15-1 (maxpreps) record after 3 seasons. Thornton will become the schools 5th head football coach since 1998 and fills the 1st of 6 currently available coaching jobs in Hillsborough County.

Michael Thornton’s true record at Cypress Lake was 7-23…
2009 1-9
2010 4-6
2011 2-8

Riverview was 6-26 under previous coach, Bruce Gifford, who took over for Dan O’Regan after the 2007 season. Gifford resigned in the middle of the 2011 seasons due to health related issues.