Bradenton Christian moves on from Allan Gerber as head football coach, athletic director

On the heels of the first playoff berth in program history, Bradenton Christian School will be making a coaching change.

The school website’s employment opportunities page lists athletic director and varsity boys head football coach as faculty positions available. Both positions have been held by Allan Gerber, who has been the Panthers’ head coach since 2008.

Bradenton Christian School superintendent Dan Vande Pol confirmed the coaching change Thursday.

“I want to thank coach Gerber for his years of service,” Vande Pol said. “We feel great about where Panther athletics is at right now.”

Gerber finished his BCS career with a 45-43 record. Bradenton Christian found success during the regular season, but fell short of the Florida High School Athletic Association postseason while playing in highly competitive districts.

That changed in 2016, when Gerber moved BCS into the Sunshine State Athletic Conference. The Panthers went 2-1 in their district and won a tiebreaker with St. Petersburg Shorecrest Prep to qualify for the SSAC postseason, sending BCS into the playoffs for the first time. They lost in the first round to Jacksonville Christ’s Church Academy, 21-18.

Despite the success in his final season as head coach, Gerber didn’t finish above .500 in any of his final six seasons in Bradenton.

Via a text message, Gerber deferred comment to Vande Pol.

Vande Pol said interviews have not yet begun for the openings and declined to say how long the decision to make a change has been in the works. The openings were first listed Wednesday, but Gerber’s son, Brett Gerber, transferred to Manatee High School earlier this month for the start of the spring semester.

Allan Gerber is still employed by Bradenton Christian, Vande Pol said, although the superintendent would not specify how long he expects Gerber to remain as the school’s athletic director. Vande Pol said the openings “are for next year” and didn’t put a specific timetable on when he would like to fill the jobs.

Gerber has been the Panthers’ athletic director since 2010, when he replaced Drew Mitchell as the school downsized because of budget cuts. Under Gerber’s watch, BCS’ boys basketball team went to a Class 2A championship, its wrestling team had its first individual region champion and its girls basketball team has become perhaps the best in 2A. At 23-1, the Bradenton Christian girls are No. 1 in its classification, according to the latest Florida Association of Basketball Coaches/Source Hoops poll.

The head coaching opening will be the third in Manatee County during the past two offseasons. Last year, both Southeast and Bayshore made coaching changes. The Seminoles went back to their roots, hiring former player Rashad West, and the Bruins looked elsewhere before bringing in John Biezuns, who had only one year of prior experience coaching high school football in Florida.

This story was originally published January 26, 2017 at 5:17 PM with the headline "Bradenton Christian moves on from Allan Gerber as head football coach, athletic director."