Practice: Riverview
Date: 8/6/12

New Head Man
We have heard this before; “There is new head coach at Riverview High.” However, this new guy is not new at all and seems to have a recipe to get the Riverview Sharks competitive again. Mike Thornton is now in his first fall camp as the head coach at Riverview. Thornton is the son of long time former East Bay head football coach, Brian Thornton and wants to bring some of his father’s wisdom and his own ways to the Shark Tank.

Michael Thornton, who played under his father in the mid 1990s and became an assistant for several years at East Bay, was the head coach at 4A Cypress Lake in Fort Myers

At First Glance.
Intense coaching! Head coach, Mike Thornton was in the middle of it all, coaching the running backs. Each coach was on top of his or her responsibility. The individual drills made sense. The numbers were small. About 40 or so kids participated.

Every position open
The attitude at practice was positive. Players were taking coaching and accepting to change. Riverview will move into a double wing style offense and Coach Thornton anticipates incorporating the wishbone into his offensive playbook. Plenty of players working out as RBs and QBs. There were designated groups, but it did not seem like there were inked starters. Coaches were encouraging competition.

What needs to happen
Riverview is a few years away before they challenge for a playoff spot. Coach Thornton and staff will have to flat out win with what they have. Coaching the kids who want to be members of the Shark football team right now! Winning will help make recruiting their own hallways a lot easier and get kids on the field who still have a bad taste in their mouth from the lack of success the past few years.

If Riverview can improve from 1-9 to 4-6 or 5-5, the numbers will grow and the talented athletes of the school will want to join a program trying to climb out the mud.