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Jim Bird (center, blue shirt) built a wrestling dynasty at Osceola High School in addition to being the school’s highly successful athletic director over the last two decades. He is stepping down to take a job in the Florida Panhandle closer to family. FILE PHOTO
After 28 years of dedicated service to Osceola High School, many of which were spent as both head wrestling coach and athletics director, Jim Bird is leaving the school.
He said has accepted a coaching and teaching Gulf Breeze High School in Santa Rosa County in the Florida Panhandle, a move predicated on family, he said.
“We love Osceola High and have had a great run here, but this move is about family,” Bird said. “We have children in Atlanta and Chattanooga and this move will put us a lot closer to them.”
Bird came to Osceola High in 1988 to coach wrestling and football. He left from 1994-96 to coach in Pennsylvania but returned in 1997.
During his second tenure, Bird built one of the best wrestling programs in the nation. He leaves the program on a high note, having three different wrestlers – Cooper Haase, Gunner Holland and Anderson Heap – winning individual state championships last March. The Kowboys finished in third place in the Class 3A team standings.
With a streak that started with Alex Eggers winning the 140-pound championship in 2007, Bird has coached at least one individual state wrestling champion for 16 consecutive years. His teams have finished in the top six of the March tournament for the same 16 years, including winning a state team title in 2009 and finishing second five times (2007, 2008, 2010, 2013, and 2014).
In all, 17 different wrestlers have claimed a total of 32 state championships under Bird. In the five years since the FHSAA added a State Dual Championship, Bird’s teams have never failed to advance to at least the quarterfinals of that event, finishing as state runner-up in 2020. His Osceola teams have won multiple Orange Belt Conference, District and Regional championships to go with the impressive state tournament results.
A coach who preached inclusiveness, Bird not only openly welcomed female participation in the sport but was also a driving force in girls wrestling being recognized as an FHSAA Varsity sport prior to the 2021-22 school year.
Bird’s organizational skills have resulted in Osceola being selected as host school for numerous state, regional and district championships. Every FHSAA State Duals Championship tournament to date has been held at Osceola High School.
Along the way, Bird has gained enormous respect in the state and national wrestling community.
“Coach Bird is as competitive as they come, but he does everything the right way,” Vic Balmeceda, who coaches a South Dade team that won their 17th state championship in 2022, once said about Bird. “He doesn’t bend on his morals or ethics just to win a match, and that is extremely rare to find these days.”
Vic Lorenzano, the head coach at Harmony High School and a coaching legend himself, said that Bird is simply one of the best. “Jim Bird is a Hall of Fame Coach without a doubt,” Lorenzano said. “He has been so important to not only Osceola High School but to the sport of wrestling. When you are trying to build a program, Coach Bird and Osceola is a program you would want to copy.”
But building a legendary wrestling program is just part of Bird’s legacy. As athletic director, he has seen his basketball team win two state championships; while under his watch the football team made three state championship appearances and remains a perennial state power.
“I’ve known Jim since we were high school students back in Spencer, West Virginia,” former Osceola football coach Doug Nichols said. “He was responsible for bringing me to the school in 1990. When I was the head football coach, no one was more supportive or our program that Coach Bird. He never favored his program over any of the other teams at the school and his mission was to always make sure that all the coaches had what we needed to compete.”
“Jim always tried to hire the best coaches he could find and then got out of their way. He never tried to micromanage,” Osceola’s long-time successful baseball coach Scott Birchler said. “Of course with his success as a wrestling coach, he really set the bar high for all the other coaches at Osceola to try to emulate, but he would also make sure we had the tools, encouragement and resources we needed to reach those goals. I think one of the most interesting aspects of his leadership was how he encouraged coaches from one sport to communicate with the coaches from other sports to exchange ideas on what it takes to be successful.”
“I’ve known him a long time and never saw a better or more effective athletic director,” current Osceola basketball coach Steve Mason said. “He usually has a million things going on and yet I would see him at our practices and games all the time. He supports all the sports and programs and is certainly leaving some big shoes to fill.”
A replacement is expected to be announced in the near future.
