David Benson takes Liberty football post

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David Benson takes Liberty football post

Sports

Friday, 04 June 2010 09:37

News-Gazette Photo/Andrew Sullivan

Liberty Coach David Benson talks to one of his players during a 2008 game at Chargers field. Benson was named the team’s head coach Tuesday.

By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer

Liberty’s 14-0 win over Lake Region in the spring football game didn’t decide Coach David Benson’s fate with the team — but it didn’t hurt, either.
On Tuesday, Liberty Athletic Director Scott Birchler finally stripped the “interim” label off Benson’s coaching title and made him the school’s second head coach entering its fourth year. He will continue coaching the weightlifting team.
Benson takes over for Doug Nichols, who began the Chargers program in 2007 and left in April to fill the head coaching vacancy at Osceola High.
Benson has been at Liberty since its inception as an assistant coach. He coached the wide receivers in 2007 and the defensive line the last two years. Benson has been in Osceola County for more than a decade. At Gateway, he coached every unit except the linebackers and the offensive line from 1999 to 2006.
Benson said that working closely with head coaches like Nichols and Gateway’s Karl Schroeder made him familiar with the duties involved, making the transition to head coach feel almost seamless.
“Past coaches I’ve worked for have done a great job of delegating, so there’s been a few new things, but nothing that’s been overwhelming,” he said.
Benson, 36, teaches geometry. He played receiver and defensive back at Winter Park High, where he graduated in 1991. He earned a scholarship to Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he was a receiver.
Benson said becoming Liberty’s head coach is the culmination of a long-term goal.
“I’ve been a student of the game since I strapped on gear in Pop Warner,” he said. “I tried other things professionally, but it felt like something was missing when I wasn’t involved in football.”
Nichols said Benson will be a great leader for the Charger program.
“I’m very happy for Dave, he was a great assistant and a good defensive line coach,” he said. “I look for him to do a great job and wish him the best of luck.”
Benson said that little will change as far as offensive and defensive schemes, and that his first order of business will be filling as many as three holes on the coaching staff, including the defensive coordinator. Liberty’s defensive coordinator for the past three seasons, Scott Spencer, moved to OHS with Nichols.
“Doug did a great job and assembled a great staff that was focused on the same goals. I worked to develop the strength and speed program,” Benson said. “They say, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’ and I think that applies.
“We were a program that, after winning games when people first told us, ‘You can’t win with those Poinciana kids,’ was 8-3 in its third year, and we missed the playoffs, literally, by three fumbles. I don’t think anybody in the county did that starting out. My intent is to maintain that direction.”
Birchler also looks for that type of consistency, which is why he said he and school officials spent so much time poring through the nearly 100 resumes that came in for the job, and interviewing four other candidates.
“We wanted to evaluate the interest while Dave took us through the spring. We owed it to the program to make sure he was the best guy for our program,” Birchler said. “It comes down to continuity, and who’s better for that than a guy who was here when the doors swung open? To be honest, my gut was with him from the get-go, and the kids were very excited when they found out.”
Benson said Liberty’s spring game shutout was as much a testament to the program’s mental aspect as its physical prowess.
“I take my hat off to the kids. All went as planned and nobody took any steps backward, which could have happened with kids not knowing about the coaching situation going into the summer,” he said. “They stayed in their comfort zone.”
Benson’s wife, Ricarta, is a 1997 graduate of Gateway. They live in Kissimmee.
The Chargers will have six home games this fall. A home game against Spruce Creek replaces what would have been a game at Florida Air in Week 2.