By Roger Williams
Last week’s Apopka Chief sports page was truly sobering for all Apopka citizens, especially legions of Apopka High School alums. Never in the 100-plus year history of the Apopka community has our hometown newspaper featured dual front-sports page headlines proclaiming the resignation of the Blue Darter head football coach and the Blue Darter head baseball coach.
Many are asking: What is going on? A lot. And our future as a nationally respected, elite high school football power is in serious jeopardy. Our ability to field even a mediocre 4-6 football team, like the 2024 season, in 2025 is in peril.
From the perspective of someone who was actually involved (unofficially as the principal’s son) in influencing the hiring of arguably the most successful football coach in the history of Apopka High School, Chip Gierke, I will share these thoughts on the criteria the new Apopka football coach must possess.
As we all know, Apopka is a unique community. A coach who may be a good fit for most places might not necessarily be successful at Apopka High School. For that reason, this coaching search is fraught with danger. The easy hire will likely not be the right hire.
The next head football coach must meet five essential criteria:
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The new football coach must have the full support of the Apopka High School administration.
The most important thing to realize is that it doesn’t matter who the next coach might be, because if the person does not have the full support of the administration, he will have no chance of success. Nick Saban couldn’t be successful without full, unconditional administrative support.
Are the Apopka High coaches getting the support they need to be successful at the elite level the Apopka community expects and demands?
2. Engage the community—including recruiting our own Apopka players.
The days are gone when the Apopka football coach could go to practice and be surrounded by players like Sammie Smith, Warren Sapp, Brandon Meriweather, Jalen Carter, etc., just because they lived in the Apopka High School zone. Our homegrown Apopka players are now being aggressively recruited by schools all over central Florida.
The new coach must realize this fact and fight tooth and nail for our own players 365 days a year. That includes engaging the Apopka-area youth football coaches who are aggressively routing our Apopka youth football players to other schools.
The new coach must be active and visible throughout the Apopka community, building bridges and persuasively reaching out to players and their families.
Hall of Fame Coach Chip Gierke realized this. On his first day on the job in 1978, Coach Gierke asked agriculture teacher Mr. James Subbs and administrator Mr. Billie Dean to help him reach out to the South Apopka community. Their enthusiastic mentorship and support were crucial to the extraordinary success of the 23-year Chip Gierke era, which included turning a program that went 3-16 over two seasons into our first district championship team in just one season.
Gierke’s tenure ended with a Florida record 31 consecutive regular-season victories in 1992–94.
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Must be a great coach with a proven track record.
Considering the essential need to be a persuasive and tireless goodwill ambassador, our next football coach must also be a great coach. Many coaches can talk a big game to players and their parents, but very few can back that up with wins on the field. What’s the best way to determine if someone is an outstanding coach? Look at what he has done in the past.
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He must be a program builder.
Being a great coach during the football season is not enough. Most of the essential elements of elite football programs at any level go way beyond the football field, and the job of program builder is a 365-day-a-year job.
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He must have God, family, country values.
Finally, the most important criterion for the Apopka High football coach is to believe in and continue our God, family, and country culture while continuing the long-standing philosophy established by Principal Roger A. Williams in 1946.
Apopka Blue Darter football exists to build young men into good citizens and to emphasize that Apopka High football players are to set high standards of behavior and achievement on and off the field as leaders at school and the community, which includes setting a good example for other students and helping the other students to be successful in their endeavors.
—Roger Franklin Williams is a local radio host, Apopka High alum, Blue Darter football letterman and the son of FHSAA Hall of Fame Principal Roger A. Williams, who was Apopka principal from 1946 to 1980.
