JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The biggest high school football head coaching vacancy in the area has been filled.
Sandalwood hired former Nease defensive coordinator Brad Kessel this week to help restore the Saints after the first 0-10 season in school history. Kessel began his coaching career in the mid ‘90s in Ohio and has spent time locally at several programs. This is his first permanent head coaching job.
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Area high school football coaching changes
| School | Former coach | New coach |
|---|---|---|
| Impact Christian | Bobby Ramsay | TBA |
| Jackson | Darryl Bartley | Bobby Ramsay |
| Ridgeview | Bryan Arnette | Merlin Smith |
| Sandalwood | Adam Geis | Brad Kessel |
| Stanton | Mike Healey | Ryan Carter |
Kessel replaces Adam Geis, who stepped down in December after 21 seasons across two stints at Sandalwood.
“When I got down here, Sandalwood was one of the names I heard about,” Kessel said. “The amount of good talent that goes through the high school, I know Coach Geis did a good job there for a long time. The size of the school, amount of talent and course of history. I know I’m going to work real hard to retain our guys and play winning football. If you win, people will come. If you play the game the right way, people will come.”
Kessel has served in assistant or coordinator roles throughout his career but did hold the interim head coach position at Ponte Vedra for five games in 2020 after Jeff Disandro’s abrupt resignation. He was the defensive coordinator at Nease last year and helped the Panthers win the District 4-4S title.
Kessel said that he wants to be a coach who makes the Saints competitive but also hopes that players enjoy their time in the program.
“I want football to be fun at Sandalwood,” Kessel said. “We want to be talked about like a Mandarin is now or a Bolles or a Raines. We want to be at that level and get our student athletes in college. My door’s going to be open to every athlete at Sandalwood, baseball, basketball, athletes who run track, wrestlers.”