Looks like the old crew is getting back together once again...Congrats Derren Bryan and the other assistants that are coming back!!
Hardee
- Thread starter TheCatCoachesMissesMe
- Start date
Many here in Hardee are thrilled about this exciting news! Derren Bryan was previously Hardee's head football coach from 2000-2006, he has the highest winning percentage of any head coach in the entire history of Hardee's football program, he also has the second most overall wins of any head coach in our program's history, only Bob Martin (1978-1995) has more overall wins than Derren Bryan. Hardee is one of the oldest high school football programs in the entire state, Hardee first started playing football in 1909 (when we were known as Wauchula HS back then) and has been playing DeSoto continuously every single year since 1921 which was recognized as Florida's oldest continuous high school football rivalry back in 1984 by both Governor Bob Graham and the FHSAA, so having the highest winning percentage of any head coach and the second most overall wins of any head coach in the long history of Hardee's football program shows how great of a coach Derren Bryan is.
Happy for you. What's he been or where has he been since? Because today's high school football athlete in the era of free agency and government intervention, with NIL looming large in high school, is a different breed.
Whenever he stepped away in Dec 2006 or Jan 2007 he went to work at a well know local insurance group here. I believe he was their Information Tech guru and I know he had originally helped setup an athletic foundation for all local sports. He didn't entirely quit coaching he helped at the junior high level.
I recall reading the Tampa Tribune's Heartland paper the day he resigned and it was published in the paper he said "I am young enough to come back someday". He kept that promise.
I talked with his old DC and he said he's going to give it a shot once again and come back. Hopefully Jake comes back (if he hasn't already, I thought I seen him out there cannot remember) as Dale and Steve are still there..
They all been in the loop the whole time just in the background and lower levels.
Now if only Desoto can get back into shape & straighten out it may get fun once again. I miss the fun of those days.
Let's see what happens...
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BTW I believe Coach Kemp was a great Coach. I had nothing but respect with what he did here. He had issues with certain ppl stirring up players causing them to go elsewhere. Kemp got the Ad position and felt trying to do both jobs would be too much so he stepped down. I don't blame him being a football coach takes too much away from family and they are under paid. I will tell anybody if I had become superintendent all coaches would be paid well. I would show the board and ppl in the county what coaches in Georgia gets paid which is crazy good. Coaches are more than coaches to a lot of young men. Coaches are like drill instructors in the military, you never forget them.
Where is the game going to be played this year? I saw Cardinal Mooney play at Desoto about 25 years ago but I’ve never been to a game at Hardee (dated a girl from Hardee for a while 🙂).
That sounds great, two great old programs coming back. Again happy for you and hope they get it rolling like the old days.
I remember going to a 1977 Southeast vs Hardee game, I went primarily because Southeast had a player that was Bo Jackson before there was a Bo jackson....His name was Zontina Jackson......He was built like a brick chit house, before weight rooms were a thing. Played RB and LB for Southeast. Coach Maechtle was just a DC and Southeast was coached by Woody Woodward. Zontina had his typical game but Hardee won the game......Hardee back then was always a tuff game. I believe when I was even younger being taken to a few Palmetto/Hardee games as well.
If memory serves me right, that Southeast team lost 3 games that year.....Hardee, Venice and St Pete Catholic...(which I believe had Marty Lyons on that team)...was a pretty good SE team all in all!
If memory serves me right, that Southeast team lost 3 games that year.....Hardee, Venice and St Pete Catholic...(which I believe had Marty Lyons on that team)...was a pretty good SE team all in all!
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I wish Desoto was coming back but I was HOPING they would. Believe it or not Desoto chose a person who has a losing record (from what I was told) vs one of their own who has supported, who has done great work for Desoto, who has voluteered much of his own time over the past 20+ years. There comes a point when a county like Desoto needs to choose one of their own instead of going outside. The man was HC for Desoto basketball and helped Coached football for the longest decades.
I know the guy on a personal level and can tell you he would be the top HC for Desoto's football team. I don't know who was on the committe in Desoto if there was any but for some reason they are not picking the best Head Coach that can succeed with the players in Desoto.
Desoto is reminding me of Florida Football, the HC job is becoming a revolving door.
As for Hardee's HC, its my understanding he is coming in a full volunteer and not be paid. He said this is what he wanted. To be honest, we need more people like Derren willing to come in on a volunteer basis but then again we need Florida politicians quit giving themselves constant pay raises and begin to give the proper raises to ALL these Coaches here in Florida. No wonder they leave and go to Georgia, anybody ever see what a School Teacher and Coach makes up there? Its embarrassing to say the least!!
There has been some great games between SE and Hardee!! The best one I've seen was early 2000s. That was the hardest game between the two teams and I believe that was the year SE won state. It was a very close game all the way through and you would think you were watching the State Championship the way both teams were playing. It was an all defensive game which you don't see much anymore.
I believe SE state titles were won in 1993 and 1994, then they played for a state title in 1998 against Miami Northwestern but lost 28-0. 1999 I believe they lost to STA in the semi-finals in a game I believe STA pulled out in the closing moments of the game.
Hmmm....???? Wildwood entered their schedule on MaxPreps last week and it lists Hardee playing at Wildwood on October 4, but Ocoee posted a schedule on Instagram yesterday listing Hardee playing at Ocoee on Saturday, October 5. October 4/5 is week 7. Interestingly, both Hardee and Ocoee posted on the FHSAA classifieds asking for a week 8 game.
Wildwood's schedule on MaxPreps:
www.maxpreps.com
Ocoee's schedule on Instagram:
Wildwood is Class 1 Rural, they are in Sumter County and are about halfway between Gainesville and Lakeland. Ocoee on the other hand is a huge Class 7A school in the Orlando area, they were in Class 4M the last two years and in 2022 they lost to Miami Columbus 41-36 in the Class 4M State Semifinals.
Wildwood's schedule on MaxPreps:
Schedule - Wildwood Wildcats (Wildwood, FL) Varsity Football 24-25
View the 24-25 Wildwood varsity football team schedule.
www.maxpreps.com
Ocoee's schedule on Instagram:
Wildwood is Class 1 Rural, they are in Sumter County and are about halfway between Gainesville and Lakeland. Ocoee on the other hand is a huge Class 7A school in the Orlando area, they were in Class 4M the last two years and in 2022 they lost to Miami Columbus 41-36 in the Class 4M State Semifinals.