Swfl coaches with the longest tenure.....

[gatorman001]

Article appeared in the Sarasota Herald Tribune this morning about the amount of time coaches had at their respective schools. One coach not covered was the current head coach at Manatee, now entering his 3rd full season. Unless Manatee wins at least 7 games this season, the current head coach will become only the 2nd coach at Manatee since the 1940's to have a cumulative losing record after 3 full seasons.

 

[Silver King]

Manatee is a stretch to include in SW FL when the Ft Myers News Press doesn't consider Punta Gorda being SW FL, or are you asking? If asking, off the top of my head, Sam @ FT Myers, 22 years; Ingman @ PC 11 years. Suncoast Peacock @ Venice 22 years.

 

[gatorman001]

The article as I indicated excluded the Manatee head coach and I'm assuming the current Charlotte head coach because of their limited tenure at each school. In as far as FM......I'm not sure the Sarasota herald Tribune ever included Lee County teams as part of its normal area of coverage? I left Florida in 1993 and at that point I don't believe the Newspaper was really making a earnest effort to include Charlotte county in as far as local team coverage, but I seem to recall a Charlotte addition of the paper that I had spoken to members of the circulation department about via my interaction with them as a Subject Matter Expert on Periodicals for the USPS. Braden River head coach was included as well.

As I recall when reviewing yearbooks from the 70s, SE and Palmetto were regularly on the Charlotte football schedule back then? I also don't believe it's a stretch anymore to include the Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte area as SWFL, particularly since Pinellas and hillsborough counties compete in Metro and Manatee, Sarasota, and Charlotte compete in Suburban in as far as football is concerned?

My primary emphasis for posting, was to bring focus on the cumulative record of the current head coach at Manatee and what his cumulative record will be after a 3rd season should Manatee not win at least 7 contests this season.

 

[Silver King]

Lee county grew more high schools than Sarasota, I think they added 7 in a 21 year period back when my oldest was playing, so we ended up playing more in Lee because it was closer. The HT covered us more as Lee dropped off and back when they had a Charlotte Office in early 2000s. The Tarps played in 4 or 5 regional finals from 2002-2010, so it was during a hot spell. But all the papers squeezed their sports departments.

 

[gatorman001]

The print media took a big hit during the financial collapse of the early 2000s. Can't tell you how many Newspaper owners I interacted with, struggling to find ways to remain viable in georgia over the loss of subscribers as well as advertisers as a result of the explosion of the internet during that same time period. During that same time, the USPS saw a drop of 1st class mail volume of over 30%...(which was the USPS bread and butter with regards to revenue). Is why I told one of my former Supervisors that works for headquarters in DC, that the USPS is a drying industry and now is the time to get her financial house in order and get out in the next couple of years........my -take thyself to a nunnery- speech if you will?

Bottom line I just don't see it reasonable any longer to limit who falls under the label of a particular area, based on what the print media covers? Things change with passing of time or become obsolete like the teams that comprised the old Western Conference in hs football or FSU leaving the ACC for example........ We 4 that met at Beefs, could collectively do a better job covering area hs football by simply attend and then report what we saw in this forum just by attending different contests week to week.......simply because print media today generally isn't putting a sufficient effort into providing coverage any longer.