Sports Editor Justin Kline weighs in on last week’s surprise coaching switch for the Raiders’ football team.
This offseason already looks like it might go down as the busiest the Plant City area has had in recent memory.
On top of the usual round of practices, film breakdowns and workouts, there’s been more scrimmage action than normal and, of course, we’ve just seen two of our three football teams get new head coaches. I wrote about Ron Hawn taking over at Strawberry Crest at the beginning of the year, and I’m now writing about Robert Paxia taking over Plant City’s program. And, before anyone emails me to ask, I’m pretty positive I won’t have to record a hat trick and write about Mike Gottman leaving Durant this summer.
About the Raiders’ big news: I don’t think the administration could have handled this situation any better.
Those of you who read my column regularly know when coaching positions open up, I like to preach continuity whenever possible. If I were an athletic director and I had any inclination that someone within a program could do just as well as an outsider, I’d take a chance on the man or woman that’s already built a relationship with the athletes.
In Crest’s case, I get why they went with Hawn. Sometimes a program really does need a shake-up. But Plant City had the opposite 2015-16 season as Crest did, and bringing in a new coach could have led to a larger regression than anyone involved would have liked.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
I had a sit-down with Paxia in the school’s weight room to get to know him, and I’d say the team’s in good hands. He may be a first-time head coach, but he has a much better setup than most in his position do.
With Paxia, offensive players will get to play in the same offense for consecutive years — something that hasn’t happened since before I came to Plant City. Just as former head coach Greg Meyer did with the defense in 2015, Paxia will still call the offense this year.
Since the rest of the staff is staying, we can probably expect the defensive schemes and playcalling to look similar to last year’s. Meyer’s expertise in that area will be replaced by that of several coaches — something that had yet to be directly assigned, as of my interview with Paxia.
Long story short, in my opinion, Raider fans shouldn’t be worried for the future.
The only part that’s unfortunate is the loss of Meyer. Few things are worse than being forced to stop doing something you truly love, even if it’s only temporary, and I think anyone who’s ever talked football with him could tell how much he loved coaching the Raiders.
Meyer did tell me he hopes to coach again, once he gets the all-clear from his doctor.
As for Paxia’s X’s and O’s, I’m going to have to save those words for another time. Specifically, I’ll get more into that in the 2016 Football Guide, which comes out next month at the start of the football regular season.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
