Coaches with Character

Sam Keator is the offensive line and defensive backs coach at 1A St. Francis Catholic school in Gainesville. The graduate of Gainesville high is heading into his third season with the young football program.

His father was in the special forces and young Keator was given the choice of going into the military or getting a scholarship to a college. He focused on football, got that scholarship to Sacramento State in California, where he played for four years.

Keator coached in the Juco ranks in California for 8 years before returning to Gainesville two years ago.

Keator says he never talks down to his players, but he stresses he is the adult in the relationship and his players know that. But they also know that he has their back. He says understanding the growing pains of young athletes helps him be a good mentor.

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Robert Iamurri is celebrating his 25th season as Naples High school girl's softball coach. Iamurri has won an incredible 12 state titles in 24 years with the Eagles - 10 in fastpitch and 2 in slow pitch.

Iamurri spent the first two years of his high school career at Naples high before transferring to rival Lely high school for his final two years. He took part in football, baseball and wrestling during his high school career.

Iamurri's secret to success at Naples high is having good coaches around him and using his organizational skills to keep his players on the right track. He says a strong feeder system through youth programs in Collier County has been a big part of the Naples high success as well.

One of Iamurri's top players is daughter Ryan, who is considered one of the top players in the country. She's heading into her senior season and has already signed a letter-of-intent to attend Alabama.

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Paul Maechtle (pron. MECK-lee) is one of the most respected high school football coaches in Florida. Since 1981, Maechtle has been the head coach at Bradenton Southeast High School. Overall, he's been an assistant or head coach at Southeast since 1974.

His Seminoles were the first state high school team to go 15-0 in a season back in 1993. Maechtle has led Bradenton Southeast to two state titles - in 1993 and 1994.

Some of the player's he's coached have gone on to the NFL, most notably Dallas Cowboys defensive back Micheal Jenkins. He's also coached former FSU star Peter Warrick.

Maechtle added the responsibility of Athletic Director in 1985 and has also taught American History at the school.

His outside interests include golf. His coaching influences have been Green Bay's Vince Lombardi, FSU's Bobby Bowden and former Florida coach Steve Spurrier.

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Kathy Combest graduated in 1975 from Lumberton High School in Lumberton, Miss.

Names MS Basketball in 1975.

Played four years at William Carey Univ in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Drafted in 1979 by the New Orleans Pride of the Women's Basketball League, the first women's pro basketball league.

Taught at Baker High School in Baker, Fla. for 23 years beginning in 1986.

Coached Volleyball from 1986-2008

She was named Coach of the Year five times.

She's led her team to 7 state title appearances.

She's been the head girl's basketball team at Baker since 1997. She's led Baker to 10 playoff appearances.

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Rose Gleichowski is a math teacher and cheerleader coach at P.K. Yonge HS in Gainesville.

Gleichowski began her coaching career at P.K. Yonge in 2003. Gleichowski says it was by accident that she became a cheerleader coach. She actually began as a gymnastics and track and field athlete in high school.

Gleichowski says cheering and gymnastics go hand in hand.

The P.K. Yonge Spirit squad focuses on school spirit first with the 19 sports at the school. As far as competition, Gleichowski said P.K. Yonge has taken part in the FHSAA championships the past two years.

Gleichowski's philosophy is "Put the leader in Cheerleader". Her cheerleaders need to be a leader, all the way around - in school, outside of school and in the community. She wants her girls to be good people.

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Coach David Hoffer is beginning his third season as head football coach at Port Charlotte High School. The Pirates are a 5-A school that went 4 and 7 in 2008.

A 1988 Port Charlotte High School graduate, Coach Hoffer's mission for the program is to develop successful student-athletes who are distinguished by principles of great character, academic excellence, and public service. His vision of the program is to relentlessly pursue and win the District Championship, and win the State Championship.

David played football and ran track at Port Charlotte High. He attended North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. He was a member of the Cardinals football team. Hoffer later transferred to Tusculum College in Greeneville, Tennessee where he graduated with a B.A. in Computer Information Systems and earned his M.A. in Education. David started at linebacker and defensive back during his three seasons with the Pioneers.

Coach Hoffer served 4 seasons as an assistant football coach and adjunct professor of computer science at Tusculum College and coached in Germany.

Coach Hoffer returned to Port Charlotte in 1998 to accept a position as a teacher and coach at his alma mater. Mr. Hoffer teaches computer science and weightlifting. He also served as the Pirates Head Boy's Track and Field coach in which he led the team to consecutive district titles in 2004 and 2005.

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Phil Ziglar graduated from Boone high school in Orlando in 1969. He attended Tennessee Tech and Maryville College. He played professionally for two years with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. He said he was too short to play linebacker in the pros, so he returned to central Florida and got his first coaching job at Colonial high school. The rest, they say, is history.

Ziglar enters his 33rd year of coaching in central Florida.

He's the long-time coach at Boone, his alma mater.

Ziglar has developed Boone into a state powerhouse.

He led his team to the 6-A state championship game in 2007. His team lost a close game to Sanford Seminole back in December of 2008 that deprived the Braves of a rematch in the 6-A championship game with Miami Northwestern.

Some of the players who've come through his program include Stacy Mack, the former Jacksonville Jaguars runningback; Jeremy Brown, now a redshirt freshman at the University of Florida; and this year's star runningback, James Washington, who's already enrolled at North Carolina State.

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Kim Pinkham got the bug not only to teach, but to coach, from her teaching parents. The native Canadian is now the softball coach and Physical Education teacher at Lemon Bay high school in southwest Florida.

Pinkham, who played on the Lake City Community College National Championship softball team when she was a sophomore, says her coaching philosophy is quite simple. She likes to have a good time, but is no nonsense when it comes to getting down to work. In her words, she likes to "get in and get out" when it comes to practice.

Pinkham dedicates herself to her students and athletes in the area of alcohol and drug prevention. She teaches her kids to make good life choices.

Pinkham is married and has two kids (her dogs).

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Lorenzo Hands was an outstanding guard at his alma mater Palm Beach Lakes. He played with the Florida State Seminoles from 1988 to 1993.

Hands never envisioned he would become a basketball coach, but that's exactly what happened after his playing days were over at FSU. His was in Tallahassee getting his masters when the Seminoles coach at the time - Pat Kennedy - asked Hands to become an assistant.

He came back to his alma mater when long-time Lakes coach Floyd Andrews decided to retire. Andrews had alot to do with shaping Hands' career as both a player and a person.

Hands cherishes the relationship he has with former FSU teammates Charley Ward and Sam Cassell.

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Coach Louise Crocco blazed the trail for other women in the coaching field. She's been the long-time volleyball coach at Cardinal Gibbons High School, stepping down in 2008 to concentrate on her athletic director duties. She still mentors the current Gibbons' head coach.

Crocco says winning is the outcome of what you do in the offseason and what you do in touching the lives of the student-athlete.

Crocco says it was rewarding to have 8 alumni athletes come to support her when she recently was honored in Washington D. C. Many of them had been out of high school for 20 years. She was proud that they told her that she was tough, but she never demeaned them and never made them feel less of a person.

She never played favorites. The top players had to adher to the rules as well as the managers.

Crocco coached for 39 years. Her mentor was Vince Lombardi, the former Green Bay Packers football coach. His players loved him even though he was tough and principled.

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Spruce Creek high school's weightlifting coach since 2003, Mike Randow led his squad to the 2008 boy's state championship. Besides being a coach, Randow sits on the Steroid steering committee for the Florida High School Athletics Association. Randow serves on the committee because he wants to keep the sport clean. Randow promotes discipline and hard work in his weightlifting program.

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