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Bloomingdale Hires New Football Coach

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By NICK WILLIAMS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 23, 2009

Updated: 02/23/2009 05:07 pm

Two months ago, John Booth contemplated moving back to Florida and possibly coaching high school sports.

A Bradenton native, he searched the Florida High School Athletic Association's classified page online and stumbled upon an advertisement for a head football coaching position at Bloomingdale High, "not thinking too much about it," Booth said.

But after two successful interviews with Bloomingdale administration, the school announced on Monday that Booth, 26, will be the Bulls new head football coach.

"We feel that Coach Booth has the character, integrity and work ethic to lead our team and that he brings unique experiences that will help him be a positive role model for our student-athletes," Bloomingdale athletic director Danielle Shotwell said.

Booth replaces Jason Stokes, who after one season resigned in December to pursue the same position at Middleton. The Bulls are coming off their first winning season (6-5) and a trip to the Class 5A region quarterfinals as the 5A-District 7 runner-up, where they lost to eventual 5A state runner-up Lakeland.

Booth coached collegiately for two seasons at Mid America Nazarene University, a NAIA program, serving as a wide receivers coach, junior varsity offensive coordinator and weightlifting coach. He also played quarterback for the Pioneers and was named a NAIA All-American and Offensive Conference Player of the Year. After college, Booth had stints with the Kansas City Chiefs, NFL Europe and Arena Football's Kansas City Brigade.

Bloomingdale will be his first high school coaching job.

"My approach is not to reinvent the wheel but kind of build on the success they had last year," Booth said. "My goal is to come in and make the program successful. My philosophy is to build the players up and encourage them to try their hardest."

Booth will teach physical education at the high school. He will leave Kansas City for the Bay area on Sunday.

Bloomingdale graduated 20 seniors from the 2008 team, including all-county second-team linebacker C.J. Curran. The Bulls return running backs Anthony Amos and Derek Johnson, who combined for over 1,100 yards.

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