Rashad West back home to try and rebuild the Southeast High football dynasty

Rashad West knows a thing or two about replacing legends and football dynasties.

When he was a junior at Southeast, he replaced Peter Warrick, who led the Seminoles to two state championships and eventually became a first-round NFL draft pick.

West grew up watching Paul Maechtle create a football program at Southeast that went from irrelevant to national acclaim.

Now West has returned and will be on the sidelines as the Seminoles’ head coach for the first time Thursday when Southeast plays host to North Port in a spring football game.

“Initially it was kind of surreal. The night before our first practice I couldn’t sleep, but now it’s just football and being with the guys,” West said. “You want to do things with the kids in the community where you grew up and played. I know a lot of the parents of the kids on our team and went to school with many of them, but I don’t walk around talking about back-in-the-day stuff.”

The team West inherits doesn’t resemble the dynasty days. He replaces John Warren, who replaced Maechtle and was 6-15 in two seasons before he resigned after last season.

There was a prevailing sentiment that fans and players wanted a hometown guy who was familiar with the program and some of its success, and West seems to fit that bill. He was the starting quarterback for Southeast in ’95 and ’96 and an all-area selection his senior year.

Thomas Jefferson, an assistant coach with the Noles, was a senior when West inherited the starting quarterback job and is encouraged by what the 36 year-old brings.

“He was very smart, a good athlete and did a good job of replacing Warrick with us going 8-3 that year,” Jefferson said. “I am glad to see someone (in the head job) who is familiar with the program and tradition we have. He has brought in a new system on offense and the kids are feeding into it.”

Defensive coordinator Cody Montgomery, who took over the job last year, echoes similar feelings.

“I love it. I feel coach West is going to bring it back to what we have been in the past and bring the same attitude he brought when he played here,” Montgomery said. “The kids are responding to him big time. I know offensively we will be clicking and defensively we are going to continue to do what we did last year, which is fly to the football and have fun.”

Southeast is a lot smaller then what is was back in its heyday, before Lakewood Ranch and Braden River were created and took away a good chunk of its student population. But West, who will be the offensive coordinator, sees a lot of good things.

“It’s much easier for me to relate to these kids because they live in the neighborhood I grew up in,” West said. “My parents still live in the same house I grew up in, but there was nothing out east. The kids today have so many things pulling them in different directions, and a lot of kids are living all over the place and going to different schools. We all lived together in the same area when I was in high school. It’s a benefit. Everyone was around each other in the neighborhood doing things together.”

West said Southeast’s strength this year is on defense, which has nearly all its starters back, including those who are getting serious looks from colleges. Among those standouts are Dequan Williams, Lee Martin, Derrick Bradley, Darrien Grant and Jon Locke, last year’s leading tackler who has been moved from linebacker to strong safety. Alex Taylor and Johnnie Schoolfield are battling it out for quarterback in a competition that West calls wide open.

West knows the Maechtle coaching tree extends far out, but he is not trying to replace the legend just like he wan’t trying to replace Warrick.

“I will not be trying to be coach Maechtle by any means. I will be here for a long time, but I don’t think its going to get to 30 years,” West said. “Against North Port, we don’t care about the score. We want to see our kids on tape going to the right spots and whether they can compete when the lights go on and the coaches are off the field.”

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Rashad West back home to try and rebuild the Southeast High football dynasty."