Palmetto’s Dave Marino retires as longest-tenured head football coach in Manatee County
Palmetto head football coach Dave Marino has retired from coaching the Tigers.
Athletic director Bryan Wilkes told the Herald that Marino announced his coaching retirement via a letter on Monday.
Marino became Palmetto High’s head coach in 2010 after Raymond Woodie left the school for the college ranks.
“Probably one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” Marino said in a phone interview with the Herald on Tuesday. “It’s the love for the kids, being there for them and with them throughout their journey in high school. Every kid wants to win a championship and get a chance to play at the next level and get a scholarship. And that’s always been the greatest joy, watching kids develop as individuals and come together as a team and hopefully you can fulfill those dreams and goals for them.”
The county’s longest-tenured head coach, Marino reached the state semifinals three times. Each occasion, the Tigers lost to the eventual state champion from Miami.
In 2011, Palmetto lost to the Duke Johnson-led Miami Norland Vikings. And the Tigers fell in back-to-back state semifinal games against Miami Central in 2019 and 2020.
Marino said on leaving: “there is never the right time. Because you’re always going to have a group of freshman or sophomores that you grow close to. So it’s never the right time to leave. But you also, as a good leader, want to leave a place better than what you found it. This place has never been better.”
Palmetto’s offense returns its starting quarterback and four wide receivers entering their third season together plus four of five starting offensive lineman return.
“Back to back regional titles, never been done in school history,” Marino said. “Back to back wins against Manatee, never been done in school history. To beat Manatee in four out of the last six years, a consistent win percentage over Manatee. So everything’s been accomplished except for that final step and that one box that needs to be checked. And that’s the state championship. And we got so close. I just felt like this was the time for, hopefully, somebody to get the kids, school and community what they so richly deserve and that’s a state title.”
Marino’s first high school coaching job in Manatee County was at Southeast High. He was an assistant, coaching the offensive line, for legendary head coach Paul Maechtle. Marino was with the Seminoles from 1990 to 1999 as part of the staff that won back-to-back state championships and was ranked No. 1 in the country at one time.
Marino left Southeast to join the fledgling Lakewood Ranch Mustangs as an assistant in 1999 until 2004. He then became an assistant coach at Sarasota High for three seasons starting in 2005 and then two seasons under Woodie at Palmetto High beginning in 2008.
In 2010, Marino got his first head coaching job and developed the Tigers into a formidable force in the area.
“The main thing was the recognition of our school and the promotion of our school with the college coaches coming through made a huge difference in the type of athletes that we have (and) he’s going to be missed,” Wilkes said. “Definitely missed. It will be hard shoes to fill.”
Wilkes said the school will conduct a national search through a committee to find the program’s next head coach. Wilkes said the timetable for hiring the next coach is as soon as possible.
“He’s been coaching a long time and you always wonder, because it does wear on you, but we were very surprised,” Wilkes said of Marino’s decision to retire this week.
Marino said it’s always in the back of a high school coach’s head to walk away, but “the love for the kids and helping them always outweighed the cost of your time away from your family and the financial cost.”
Florida public high school coaches receive a supplemental stipend — usually around $3,000 to $4,000 — whereas Fort Worth, Texas area head coaches often are paid $90,000 or higher, according to a 2022 report by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Marino is only retiring from coaching, where he went 90-50 in his 13 seasons with the Tigers, and is staying at the school as a teacher.
This story was originally published January 10, 2023 at 11:05 AM.
