High school football season is over throughout the Sunshine State, but now we are coming up on our thoughts on coach/player of the year awards and we wanted to pose the question to the public: Who is the Football Coach of the Year in Florida?

Winning district, regional and state championships played a part in nominations, but also programs being turned around after a dismal 2023 campaign also we take into account as well. Plenty of head coaches around the state are more than deserving after putting in countless hours around the clock preparing their teams all throughout the 2024 season.

From Panhandle to South Florida, we throw out 18 names from around the state that meant a lot in guiding their respective teams through the season and also made an immediate impact on the program. Please give our list a vote and let us know if you feel someone was left out.

SBLive voting polls are intended to be a fun way to create fan engagement and express support for your favorite high school athletes and teams. Unless expressly noted, there are no awards for winning the voting. Our primary focus is to highlight the abilities and accomplishments of all the athletes and teams included in our poll. You can vote as often as you wish and are encouraged to share our polls with others. The use of voting bots and other forms of automated voting are not allowed. Individuals will be removed from the poll if any form of automated voting can be verified. – SBLive Sports

Voting will end on February 1st, 2025.

For the first time in school history, West Boca Raton has finished the regular season with an undefeated record behind a suffocating defense. Potts has led a team that has held opponents to eight points or less six times this season. The Bulls capped it off by winning the Class 6A state championship this past season, the first in program history.

The Venice Indians are back at the mountain top in Class 7A and that’s in part to the kind of job done by Peacock. The Indians’ head coach guided the team to a 14-1 record, with the team’s lone loss coming to IMG Academy. It all culminated in Miami when Peacock guided Venice to a 52-19 beatdown of Lake Mary for the 7A crown.

Hard for us not to recognize the kind of first season Bridgewater had at the helm of his alma mater. Bridgewater is now back in the NFL, but not before guiding his Bulls to the Class 3A state championship in a 41-0 rout of Raines. Throughout the season, Miami Northwestern went through an ardous schedule that included foes like Miami Central and Venice. It was a perfect ending to the season, concluding with Bridgewater hoisting a trophy.

Over the previous two years at Southeast prior to Curt Bradley taking the job at Southeast, the Seminoles’ football program has been on some tough times. Bradley headed up the Braden River and then over last offseason left for Southeast and the results have begun to turn around. Between 2022-23, the Seminoles went 1-18 and this past 2024 finished at 5-5. Though the Seminoles missed out on the playoffs, this has been an impressive turnaround.

The Bulldogs were 2-8 a season ago and the town of Perry has been hit by multiple hurricanes, making for difficult times. Braswell and the football team have been a major bright spot in town as they finished the regular season at 7-3 and qualified for the Class 2A playoffs. Regardless of how the postseason ended, Braswell did a tremendous job turning around the program in 2024.

Everyone thought that the Raiders weren’t going to notch another state championship because of losses and close calls leading them eventually to Pitbull Stadium. Playing for the Class 5A state championship, Harriott’s team dominated Lakeland and shutout their foes to runaway with the program’s 16th state crown.

Now you might be wondering how a team that made a one-win improvement gets to make this list. Well, making the postseason is one of them, of course. Another is also taking into account that the team lost dual-threat quarterback Nick Simmons to transfer, but the Patriots didn’t take a dip at all. Pace got better this past fall and finished at 9-1 and qualified for the Class 6A playoffs, reaching the region semifinals.

Without their star quarterback Dia Bell through the latter parts of the playoffs, Smith pressed the right buttons in order for the Patriots to win a state championship. Smith inserted Malachi Toney at quarterback and the rest was history. The program’s former running backs coach-turned-head coach won his first state crown as the lead man of the Patriots.

Though the Eagles didn’t win a district championship, they did come one play away from playing for a district championship. Thompson’s crew lost to Mosley during the regular season, sealing Niceville’s ability to win a district title. It didn’t matter as they made a serious run through the 2024 playoffs all the way to the state semifinals, falling a 2-point conversion away from playing for a state crown.

When Rashad West stepped down as the head coach of the Tigers after the 2023 season, questions swirled around the team. All of them were answered by the hiring of Eric Sanders, who has taken a team that went 5-5 a year ago to 9-1 and hosting a playoff game in the opening round of the Class 6A postseason. Though Sanders

The Tigers always expect to be in the running for a state title, but Schneider’s group might’ve had one of their toughest roads to winning one this past season. The former UCF quarterback led Cocoa back to the top of Class 2A by edging out Gadsden County down in Miami. When it comes to adversity, Cocoa faced it with losses to IMG Academy, Miami Norland and Venice. Each game made the team stronger.

Teddy Bridgewater isn’t the only former quarterback returning to be the lead man of his alma mater. Haugabook returned to his old stomping grounds at Glades Central and led the Raiders to an impressive return to glory. Glades Central have gone 9-1 this 2024 season, a far cry from last year’s 2-7 record. The Raiders fell in the opening round of the Class 2A playoffs, but it was a tremendous season nonetheless.

We recognize the kind of job Green and his staff did this past season in having the Hurricanes just a quarter away from playing for the Class 5A state championship. Having to guide the program through a trying time as hurricanes devastated the South Suncoast region, Bradenton in particular, Green pulled his program together to make a run. Manatee came just a touchdown away from playing in Miami for all the marbles.

The Indians finished 4-7 last season and when Adam Gore made his return to the program, expectations were that the team would be seeing success sooner rather than later. Gore guided the club to a 9-1 season in 2024, with the lone loss coming up against Taylor County, which just happens to be on this list as well. There was no doubt one of the feel good stories of this season was Gore and the Indians.

Losing their first two games against St. John Bosco (California) at the Broward County Classic and the following week against Blanche Ely, arguably the biggest upset of the year, had many wondering if the Lions could return to the mountain top and win it all. Chaminade-Madonna after an 0-2 start continued to win 13 straight games, including victories over Plantation Americane Heritage, Miami Norland, Monarch, St. Thomas Aquinas and Western en route to the Class 1A state title.

Harris leading the school he once coached at as an assistant brought everything together full circle for the Cowboys. Avenging a Class Rural state championship loss to Hawthorne a season ago, Harris led Madison County to the top of the mountain. Harris led the Cowboys to the Rural state championship victory over Hawthorne.

The Panthers ran the table during the regular season to a 9-0 record and by the last FHSAA power ratings, finished as one of the state’s top teams. Nease went into the postseason with some high expectations in Class 6A and Drafts guided the team to many thrilling wins along the way, including defeating St. Augustine. Drafts did a superb job and will look to continue that moving forward.

From going 6-5 to 13-2 is quite the accomplishment for Ellington and the Jaguars. Gadsden County made a run all the way to the Class 2A state championship game, just falling short against Cocoa. Despite the loss, there’s no reason to believe that Ellington won’t have his team back in the mix come 2025.

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— Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi