Palmetto High announces a new head football coach after longtime coach retires
Rashad West, the head coach of Lakewood Ranch High School, will take over as head coach of the Palmetto High Tigers after Dave Marino led the team for 13 seasons, the school announced on Monday.
West — who’s a Manatee County native — is no stranger to coach Marino’s coaching style, which could come in handy as he prepares his new team for the 2023-24 season.
West played quarterback for Marino at Southeast High School in the late 1990s and coached alongside him at Lakewood Ranch in the early 2000s.
His transition into being the head coach of the Tigers comes with great respect for what his former coach has established.
“I played for coach Marino, and I worked with him, so I respect him and have learned a lot from him,” West said. “Over the years, he’s done a great job in Palmetto.”
West said he intends to build on what the Tigers already have in place while putting his own spin on it, which he believes will continue the program’s upward trajectory.
The Tigers finished the 2022–23 season with a 6-4 record and were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round.
“The community feel and support is what drew me to the program,” West said. “I also believe Palmetto has the potential to be a championship-level football program year in and year out.”
Palmetto High School Athletic Director Bryan Wilkes told the Bradenton Herald on Tuesday that the school was impressed with West during his interview for the job.
“He would be continuing on a tradition and culture that we already have at Palmetto High School,” Wilkes said. “It was just a great transition hiring him.”
Get to know Coach West
West played football at the quarterback position at Southeast High School, where he graduated in 1997.
He played college football at Southeast Missouri State University.
West’s first coaching job was at Lakewood Ranch High School in 2003, where he worked alongside Marino.
Marino was the Mustangs’ offensive coordinator, while West was an offensive assistant.
After that, he coached at other schools around the state before landing the head coaching position at his alma mater, Southeast High in Bradenton, in 2016.
For the past four years, West has been the head coach at Lakewood Ranch.
There’s no official date yet for when West will start at Palmetto and leave Lakewood Ranch, Wilkes said.
This story was originally published February 14, 2023 at 3:27 PM.
