PREP FOOTBALL: Palmetto hires former Lakewood Ranch coach Rashad West as its football coach

PALMETTO − The allure of coaching a championship-type team in a one-school town intrigued Rashad West.

Monday, Palmetto High hired West as its next football coach, luring him away from the same position at Lakewood Ranch High.

“It’s certainly an attractive job,” West said of the Tigers. “It’s a community school. And with the way the area is growing, those jobs are few and far between when you can find a community school. It’s one school in this town. That certainly was a major draw.”

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West replaces Dave Marino who retired after this past season after 15 years with the Palmetto High program.

West certainly is familiar with Marino, having played for and coached with him.

“Coach did a great job here. He’s done a great job here building this thing,” West said. “We want to continue to piggyback some of the things he did and put our own spin on it and take it to whatever that next level may be. We’re going to do it our way and continue to grow the program.”

West met with a majority of the returning football players at Palmetto High before meeting with the media Monday afternoon.

“The first order of business is getting to know the kids,” West said. “We’ve got plenty of time to go out and throw and catch. Just getting around the kids so they know me and are comfortable with me. Continue to fill out a staff.”

West will continue to employ his “Air Raid” offense that has made him successful during his coaching stops. In Manatee County alone, he has coached at his alma mater at Southeast High and the past four years at Lakewood Ranch.

“We’re going to throw it around a little bit, of course. It looks like there are few kids here who can play football, run and catch,” West said. “Yeah, we’re going to do that. We’re an Air Raid team. We’ll continue the attacking style on defense the way they’ve done it for years. We’re going to try and have some fun.”

Right now, it is building relationships and working on overall team strength.

“Just get in the weight room,” West said. “We’ve got lost time. We’ll have plenty of time to start talking Xs and Os. Just build. Get in the weight room. See who can do what.”

Palmetto went 6-4 last year, losing in the first round of the regionals at home to Lehigh Senior. The Tigers have won three regional titles and reached the state semifinals three times (2011, 2019, 2020).

During his four years with the Mustangs, West’s teams went 20-17, opting into the playoffs during the 2020-COVID season.

In his first year in 2019, Lakewood Ranch seniors experienced winning on the road for the first time.

“We were fortunate to do a lot of things. We had a successful year this year,” said West, whose Mustangs went 6-4 and missed the playoffs by percentage points in the FHSAA power rankings. “For so many of those kids, it was the first time they experienced those things. Those all were proud moments. We left the program in better shape than when we found it.”

Now West and his staff will attempt to do the same at Palmetto.

“And it’s not everyday a championship program becomes available,” West said. “That attracted me to this opportunity.”

West’s move 15 miles to the north and west, leaves Lakewood Ranch as the only school with an opening for a football coach. Former Manatee High assistant Josh Phillips took over at Sarasota High, and Dylan Clark was hired at Parrish Community High.

Lakewood Ranch director of athletics Kent Ringquist is taking applications and resumes for the vacancy until Feb. 24. Candidates can send resumes to ringquik@manateeschools.net.

“I know he’s a big, strong kid who looks like he’s got a lot of talent. Getting to know him, seeing what he can do, seeing what his strengths are, how that vibes with what we are trying to do offensively. We’ll start having conversations. Right now it’s getting around all the kids and having conversations with everyone.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Palmetto High hires former Lakewood Ranch coach as its football coach