O’Regan steps down at Riverview

Dan O'Regan loved the kids, loved the school and loved the program, but the stress of being a high school football coach simply became too great, he said. And ultimately, it caught up to him.

"I just didn't feel good," O'Regan said.

With a week remaining in spring practice, O'Regan stepped down as Riverview coach Friday citing "personal and family reasons" after five seasons. He said he will continue to teach social studies at the school.

"The timing is horrible, I know," O'Regan said. "But it's time to walk away. I don't know what else to say. To be honest, I was a little bit nervous about how I felt. I just didn't feel right. I was getting home at 8:30 or 9 at night and I was stressed. I told the kids that I went home Thursday and just said to myself, 'I can't do this any more. I'm killing myself.'"

O'Regan went 32-20 at Riverview and led the Sharks to the program's only district title. The 2005 squad went 10-2 and reached the second round of the Class 6A playoffs.

O'Regan, 50, has been at the school since it opened in the late 1990s. Before becoming head coach, he was a Sharks assistant. Prior to that, he spent 15 seasons as an assistant on the staff at nearby East Bay.

Sharks assistant Bruce Gifford will be the interim head coach the remainder of spring practice, which concludes next Thursday at Brandon. Gifford, 45, has been with the team three seasons, the last two as defensive coordinator.

"It was just a complete shock yesterday," Gifford said. "I got the news right before practice started. I didn't have any prior knowledge. Dan came in and told me right before he met with the team. This last week, I'm just going to keep doing what we've been doing. All the assistant coaches are still in place."

O'Regan's son, Alex, is the Sharks' starting quarterback and placekicker (at the latter position, he's one of the county's best). He will enter the 12th grade this fall.

"I had hoped to make it through my son's senior season," O'Regan said. "That was my big hope. But I looked in the mirror and said, 'it's time.' The kids were great. They gave me hugs. They all understood."

The program is in solid shape, O'Regan said.

"If you really care about a place you're at, you want to leave it better than you found it," O'Regan said. "That's not to say it was a mess when I (became coach). It wasn't. But I think it's moving in a positive direction."

Gifford, who has been coaching football in Florida for 25 years and grew up in Brandon, said he plans to officially apply for the position once it is posted. He recently was a finalist to be the head coach at Bloomingdale.

You can learn more about the Riverview program HERE.

--KEITH NIEBUHR

Comments

[Ara Parsegian]

Wow, this hurts this program. Coach may not have been a little heavy handed but he won games.

Does anyone really believe this story? With a week left in spring? How about attacking a kid (again)? Now that would be a believable story.

[AF]

The guy hit a kid. Threw a football at him and hit him in the head. This is after hitting and kicking a kid two years ago. Hurt the program??? This only helps the program. The team was only 5 - 5 last year. The guy is one of the worst head coaches in Hillsboro County.

[AF]

That is Allegedly did something wrong. Who is going to be the next coach?

[Shark]

I am not sure. Has to be someone from inside the program for this last week but I am sure it will be someone from outside the program for next year. This one has to be an outside hire.

If you are forced to resign because of something you did, why is the good ole boy network allowed to spin it for "health reasons"? There were way too many witnesses this time, of course there were lots and lots of witnesses last time too.

[Shark Parent]

Who does everyone think should be the next coach? Someone with head coaching experience needs to run this program. Could be a tough situation to find someone.

Any coach who is currently a Head Coach at a school, who would leave his team to move over to Riverview is not worth his weight. To leave "your kids" for such a selfish reason cannot make the administration feel good that the coach will not leave Riverview if something better comes along in the future. They need to hire a coach who will stay witht he program and one who kids will come to love, respect and want to play for.

[Spoto Fan]

Does anyone know who is getting the Spoto job? Nothing has been printed about it on this site.

[Give me a break]

1st the guy is only 50. Most coaches have not even reached their peak at 50.

2nd the guy was 32 - 20 with Riverview talent? 32 - 20? You should be 32 - 20 at a lot of schools but at Riverview? That is just bad. He is bad. Best that could have happened to Riverview football is for him to be gone. Time to clean house.

[John Colbert]

The next riverview coach should be John Colbert! This guy won district @ Tech and is currently coaching at West Orange in Orlando! He would turn around the Sharks in about 10 minutes!

[??]

He used to be at Tech? What happened to the guy while at Tech? Why is he not still there? Why is he at West Orange? West Orange was 2 - 8 last season. They were 3 - 7 in 2006 and 4 - 6 in 2005. Might take the guy longer than 10 minutes to turn it around. LOL.

Colbert took a college job at Kansas State, Laugh at that!

[Come On]

Come on. The guy took a job at K. State and now is at West Orange? Why would a coach leave a quality college program (must have had a huge salary) to come back to the state of florida where the average coach gets about 4 grand? Come on. I dont want to argue. Just making a point about coaches with talent look great and coaches with no talent dont look great.

[USF Bull]

They should get Dale Caparaso. He won 4 state championships in the past in Mass. If he applies and gets the job, Riverview will go deep in the playoffs. Google him ...

[oldtimecoach49]

There is a coach in Boca Raton that wa s an assistant at several South Florida SCHOOLS ONE BEING STATE POWER
Chaminade Madonna, he went up to Rhode Island for eight years head coach 86-27 record winning two states and one runnerup. Has worked football camps at Univ. of Georiga, Notre Dame, Maryland, he would move over here in a heartbeat, I have known him for twenty years, his name is Frank Nolan

[D]

They hired from within and stayed on campus