When practice camps opened for the fall sports this Monday, the county sports scene was marked with numerous changes, with at least one more big announcement expected before classes begin in the a couple of weeks.
For instance, half of the eight public schools started the football season Monday with new head coaches. Two of those schools made those changes earlier this year and those coaches – Anthony Paradiso (Tohopekaliga) and Mike Short (St. Cloud) had the advantage of going through a spring practice.
Jeremy Palmer took over earlier this summer for the departed Rich Pringle at Celebration, and Liberty saw Brett Munroe step down for health reasons in late June; at the start of practice on Monday the Chargers did not have a new coach in place.
Athletics Director Lonnie Flores, who has moved from Tohopekaliga to Liberty in that position, has targeted Anthony Smith to be the next Chargers football coach pending final paperwork. Flores took over as Liberty Athletics Director after spending the last few years at Tohopekaliga High and hopes to continue the success he enjoyed with the Tigers.
“We have some great kids and great athletes at Liberty,” Flores said. “My goal is to build a stable coaching staff here and the success will follow.”
Flores was replaced at Tohopekaliga by Travis Foster, who leaves the head girls volleyball coaching job to become the Tigers new Athletic Director.
“I loved Harmony and working with our athletes and never thought I would leave,” Foster said. “But (Toho principal) George Arscott used to work with me at Harmony and I have a ton of respect for him. When he asked me to apply, I just thought it was time to step out of my comfort zone and try something new.”
Although he has only been on the job a few days, Foster says he is already getting a good vibe from the coaches on staff and the student athletes he has encountered.
“I’m still trying to figure out what keys open what doors,” he said. “But I already like what I am seeing from the football program and other sports. We have some really good coaches and my job is to support them in any way I can.”
After spending several years building the Celebration athletic program into a contender for the Orange Belt Conference Team Championship, Storm Athletic Director Rick Tribit resigned to return and become the AD at Osceola High.
That move opened the door for the Storm to promote highly-successful soccer coach Chad Boudreaux to the position of Athletic Director. In eight years, Bourdreaux guided the Storm to a 93- 39-14 record – including an 11-1-4 mark last year and a State Final Four appearance in 2018-19.
One of his first duties will be to find a new head coach for track and field and girls weightlifting as Cliff Branch has accepted a position with Gwinnet County Schools in Georgia.
In eight years at Celebration, Branch had state qualifiers in both track and weightlifting – including Catalina Edwards – the Osceola News Gazette’s female Athlete of the Year.”
“We are coming off an incredibly successful year for athletics in our county,” Osceola County Athletics Director Ryan Adams said. “That success includes both on-field and classroom excellence by our student-athletes. The coming year will have a lot of new faces on both the sidelines and in the leadership role of Athletics Director. But I have a lot of confidence in both the coaches moving into the AD chair and with the new coaching hires and fully expect to have another great year in the county.”
