Q&A with new Manatee head football coach Yusuf Shakir

Manatee High’s nearly two-month search for its next head football coach ended Thursday when Yusuf Shakir was announced as the program’s first African-American head coach.

So what can Hurricane fans expect?

Well, read on as the former Tallahassee Lincoln player and head coach, who captured a state championship in 2010 and finished runner-up in 2012, took time to speak to the Herald about the Canes, his coaching style, plans for the coaching staff and more.

Bradenton Herald: What was the deciding factor in wanting to coach Manatee High’s football program?

Yusuf Shakir: I just sat back and thought about all the resources and everything that they offer these kids. For me, I’m about kids. I’m about giving them opportunities, showing them the world is bigger than what they may have been exposed to and what they’ve been around, and that’s what they do there. They support that.

BH: There are high expectations at Manatee High School, a program that’s won five state championships and was the No. 1 team in the nation during the 2012 season. How do you handle that?

YS: I love to thrive in that, and then they also give you the resources. It’s one thing to expect those things, but if they don’t give you the resources, then that’s when you’re living in a fantasy land. There’s a lot of places like that, that want to win but don’t want to give you the resources to win.

BH: What do you bring to the table to Manatee High School?

YS: Education is key to me. I’ll push the kids for academics, making sure that they’re great people. I think if we’re great in the classroom, then we’re great people. And not to say Coach (John) Booth didn’t do that. That’s just my philosophy of it. ... And making sure we’re consistent with that. I think if we continue to breed great people, then we’ll have great success on the field.”

BH: What’s your coaching style and philosophy?

YS: First and foremost, we want to be physical. We want to be fundamentally sound. We want to be aggressive in the things that we want to do. ... We want to set the tone for that game, physically. We ought to make sure we develop that in practice, through offseason training and really developing the kids in those time periods. But one thing I’ve always been known for as a head coach is our special teams have always been very disciplined. ... That’s the first thing we’re going to build on is to make sure we’re special in the special teams area. So we’re going to be aggressive, and make sure we have big plays in the kicking game and in those areas. And, of course, make sure we eliminate big plays in the kicking game. Everybody knows that when we won our state championship in 2010, we blocked a field goal and returned it for a touchdown, we had some big time returns in that game and then we won it on a field goal with four seconds left in the game.”

BH: What’s your plan for a coaching staff?

YS: I’m not a guy that comes in and cleans house. I’m not that type of guy, because people were there and have been invested in the community. I’m going to come into the community and make sure we try to continue to build from there with our staff.

This story was originally published May 27, 2017 at 9:30 AM with the headline "Q&A with new Manatee head football coach Yusuf Shakir."