Palatka hires Rice as football coach
Palatka High School went west to fill its vacant football coaching position.
The Panthers announced the hiring of former Tallahassee Lincoln head coach Kyle Rice on Monday.
The 36-year-old Rice replaces Wilson Edwards, who retired following the Panthers' 2008 season. Edwards has been at Palatka for 31 years, although he'd been the head coach for just the last five.
Rice has North Florida ties. His family lives in the Middleburg area, so North Florida isn't all that foreign to him.
"I grew up competing against Palatka, I have great respect for the program and the community that supports it,"
he said. "That was something I was looking for."
Lincoln has consistently been one of the state's top programs, churning out victories and major college football signees.
In four seasons under Rice, the Trojans won their district in each. His teams went 39-12 and played in two state semifinal games. Lincoln lost 34-14 to Tampa Plant in the Class 4A state championship last season. Rice also coached defensive back T.J. Bryant, one of the nation's top recruits. Bryant signed with Southern Cal last year. Eight players from that class signed with major college programs.
Palatka, meanwhile, has struggled to keep pace. The Panthers haven't won a state playoff game since 2003 and haven't posted a season above .500 since going 9-3 in 2003. The Panthers last made the state playoffs in 2006 as a district runner-up. Palatka does have a tradition-filled area for football. The Panthers won a state championship in 1981 and were second in 1983.
"The tradition is always there, it's not a matter of rekindling the tradition, it's a matter of building on it,"
Rice said. "Palatka is a football town and it's important in Palatka. That's a great jumping-off point."
Rice immediately becomes one of the top head coaches among the Putnam-St. Johns County area.
Rice joins St. Augustine's Joey Wiles as the only coach with a Florida High School Athletic Association state championship appearance on his resume.
Wiles and St. Augustine have played for three titles -- 2001, '05 and '07 -- and won one.
The Panthers will be in District 4-3A this season with St. Augustine, Menendez and Palm Coast Matanzas.
