For all those insinuating various reasons for this decision, have you actually looked at the numbers? The following is the previous 15 years of MHS football records (taken from MaxPreps) and broken down into 3 or 4 year blocks.
Kinnan's previous 4 years
39-12 or .764 overall
8-3 or .727 playoffs
1 final four
1 runner up
Kinnan's last 4 years
52-6 or .896 overall
12-3 or .800 playoffs
2 final fours
1 state championship
Booth's 3 years
28-9 or .756 overall
4-3 or .571 playoffs
1 final four
Shakir's 4 years
29-16 or .644 overall
3-4 or .428 playoffs
No final fours, runner-up, or state champs
8 game suspension for recruiting
The last coach with a worse record was DeCristofaro, and he too was fired after 4 years. So please, stop with the innuendo and false narrative, and realize that this firing is in line with the history of the program and it's expectations of success.
Its easy to throw out numbers, in business I found some of the best BS'ers in fact actually excelled at this, but ultimately without context numbers are just that.........numbers
Booth inherited a program rich in talent top to bottom (compliments of Joe), but when he left ..........he left a program incapable of fielding a freshman team and barely able to field a JV team and a varsity roster that regularly fielded only 38-42 players. Manatee at the time was playing in 8A meaning the program rich in football history, should have had a ample student population where scoping out campus talent should have been a given........yet Booth failed miserably at this and subsequently left football completely when he resigned.
I critized the hire when Shakir was hired at Manatee because he left Lincoln HS in a cloud of rumored discontent among the Lincoln school administration and its fan base, in addition to his record his last 4 years at Lincoln was mired in mediocrity. His first four seasons at Lincoln with program rich in talent that he inherited from the previous staff, Shakir went 41-12, but in the last four seasons his Trojans were only 27-19, including 6-7 and 5-4 seasons the last two years.
I've been critical of Shakir's coaching, his coordinators in general particularly his choice at OC, but on the other hand he was doing a better job than Booth had done with making the program viable once again with its freshmen and JV teams numbers on the rise......... For me understanding the achievements reached by Joe were the exception rather than the rule, despite how I felt about Shakir the coach the program was generally competitive and viable once again, so I accepted things as they were understanding it ultimately could be worse.
What irks me about what went down last week was the unfortunate timing and the way it was handled by those ultimately that made the decision to fire him. There's a right way and a wrong way to handle matters related to hiring and firing and this one reminds me things I witnessed in the business world......(particularly by those that make decisions that defy business logic and/or tend to lash out emotionally). This wasn't a merit based decision......(which it easily could have been and subsequently explained as such by the school administrators), but one based deep in emotion, like that of a vengeful female!
So we move on from here, I'd like to see Brion Carnes come back as I actually liked what I saw from him as a 1st year OC......(apparently there were personality issues between he and Shakir which caused him to leave after 1 year). There's the guy that coached Gorman HS to a couple of Natl titles at Sarasota HS presently, that might be interested. Lots of young guys out there looking for a opportunity to get their foot in the door of being a head coach. Discovered last year the current HBC at the university of Indiana got his start in the Tampa Bay area at Armwood HS with coaching......lets hope those entrusted with making the new hire make it a wise one!
Go Canes Go!
