Football, coaching part of the fabric of Titusville mayor Dan Diesel and family

Dan Diesel was 15 years old, working with a summer softball team, when the idea of coaching as a profession came to him.

"I remember the feeling on the bus with those kids, and how much it meant to them to be on a team, how much it meant that I was there to help coach them," he said, describing it as an "electric jolt" that shaped his future. “I don’t think there is any other position that has the kind of influence on kids that a coach does. You get close to kids, and they become lifetime relationships.”

Many of Diesel's relationships touch on football, coaching or education.

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Now 40 years into his coaching career, including 13 seasons as head football coach at Titusville (1991-2003) and four assisting at Cocoa High, Diesel played for two-time Terriers state championship coach Al Werneke, coached for him and then had the legend on his own staff. He was there when the school's on-campus stadium, named for Werneke, opened in 2007.

Part of the Diesel fabric

Diesel was a teacher, coach, athletic director and principal during 35 years at Titusville, starting as a ninth-grade football coach under Werneke in 1983 and eventually also coaching some basketball, track, golf and wrestling. He taught math, P.E. and science, retiring in 2018 from the school where he first started watching varsity football in 1967, when the team went 9-1.

He can remember standing on campus once, pointing south from the football field and telling someone, "I'm so Titusville High that my first kiss with my wife was over there on that racquetball court."

That happened many years earlier, when the then-baseball catcher walked back to the varsity locker room with Barbara, who had come to see him play.

It’s a coaching family. Son Scott recently left coaching for private business, but he had coached wrestling and football at Titusville and then coached football with oldest brother Matt at Space Coast Jr./Sr. High for a couple of years. Middle son Travis, now principal at Madison Middle School, coached briefly before becoming an administrator.

Football and coaching doesn't stop with the Diesel men.

"My mom is the kind of mom who can watch the opening credits of (Saturday morning football previews) and watch college football all day, through the night games on the west coast," Matt said.

Also a Titusville grad, Barbara played basketball and coached little league.

Dan recalled sitting on the couch late at night watching football with his own mom, and it's in the same house where he lives now. He remembered his dad, also a coach, buying a Magnavox TV for them to watch the 1968 Olympics in that same room. A newer TV will play football games all day this Thursday.

"It's part of the family," Diesel said of football's role. "It's part of the fabric."

Though he's now the Titusville mayor and has been a city councilman, it's easy to imagine there would be nothing different about Dan Diesel or his relationships had he never run for anything. He ran unopposed for the job of Titusville mayor in 2020, having been on the city council four years and served as vice mayor.

Now he's an assistant on the staff of Cocoa football, standing on the press box during games to relay information to the defensive coordinator on the sideline, son Matt.

Joining Cocoa Tigers football

Matt became Space Coast head coach in January of 2018. He ran the Vipers program for two seasons before the demands of simultaneously running his own business led him to become the defensive coordinator for Cocoa, shedding the full-time head coaching role.

Dan, who had been on the Vipers staff as his assistant, decided it was time to step away and let Matt handle the coaching with others. But son asked dad to stop by a gathering as his house to meet the Cocoa defensive coaches and talk some football.

"Next thing I know, I'm working with the defensive staff at Cocoa," Dan said. "I knew there was a lot of talent over here, but it's also a class act."

He's been pleasantly surprised at how well the players have warmed to him. They'll play Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at home against South Sumter for a regional title that would be the 17th in a row for the Tigers.

"The coaches love him, and the kids really love him," Tigers head coach Ryan Schneider said after the team's 35-0 regional semifinal win over Dunnellon, "and when he speaks, they know it's coach Diesel, who's been coaching forever and is a hall of famer. Whenever you can get someone like coach Diesel on your staff, it's a blessing."

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Dan had hoped the Terriers program he loves would beat South Sumter to earn a spot on the field with the Tigers this week in the Region 3-2S final. "I would love nothing better," he said. Titusville lost, but the team finished 10-2, it's best season of the century.

Had the two teams played again, Dan's nature suggests he'd be genuinely happy for every player on the field, regardless of uniform, while still remaining loyal to his job of finding ways to beat Titusville. According to coaches who'd know, the latter is something he does rather well.

Wayne Lawrence, now an assistant principal at Cocoa who called Dan "a Terrier, through and through," had him on his staff when Lawrence was the Titusville head coach. Diesel did his thing during games from the press box roof, same as now, relaying information down to the same defensive coordinator, son Matt on the sideline.

"He just was always a servant, anything he could do to help or assist," Lawrence said. "He has a tremendous ability to be the eye in the sky. He's able to say what should happen, and almost every time, he's right. He dials right into it, and, because of who he is, you listen to him."

On to the next generation

While he has awards for just about every job he's tackled, from principal to athletic director to teacher, Dan took down those plaques in his house and replaced them with memorable photos he finds more important.

Of particular significance to Dan is the Cocoa football state championship he and Matt played a role in last December, as well as the one they're chasing now. He has a photo of himself, Matt and the trophy in his memory room.

Now he's making memories with even younger Diesels. They include grandson Daniel, a center whose 8-and-under football team will play in a national tournament next month in the Orlando area. He wears the number his grandad wore in his playing days, 56. His coach, Telly Joiner, played for "pop-pop" at Titusville High.

"I don't know that I could be more fulfilled than to sit in my lawn chair and watch them play," Dan said.

That grandson, "Little Dan," enjoys sitting with dad Scott in front of their television, watching football.

"I'll stop the game and show him what they're doing," Scott said. "It really shows when he's on the field, that he's picking it up. He's very football saavy."

Enough to coach down the road?

"It's coming full circle, and it's emotional to see that," Scott said. "I thank God my dad is here to see it."

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Dan Diesel: Cocoa, Titusville high school football coach for 40 years