Here are this Gainesville area school's next steps after moving on from head football coach

After three hires in 2023, Alachua County will see its first coaching change in 2024.

Santa Fe relieved Joe Szymanski of his head coaching duties after two years on the job, the team announced Sunday on X, formerly known as Twitter. The news was confirmed to the Gainesville Sun Monday by Athletic Director Michele Faulk.

Faulk said the move was especially tough as her and Szymanski are friends. The Santa Fe Class of 1996 alum helped win the school’s last state championship in 1994.

Szymanski was hired following the 2021 season to help revitalize a program without a winning season since 2016.

He replaced Jared Allen, who went 2-15 in his two seasons at SF. He’d previously coached at Union County, where he was offensive coordinator for a team which averaged 40 points per game.

The coach hoped to rebuild the Raiders to their former glory, and after his first season on the job, said he wanted to retire at Santa Fe.

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But that won’t transpire. Szymanski ended the program’s 16 game losing streak with a 14-7 win over Gainesville High in September 2022. However, that wound up as his only win as coach as Szymanski ended his tenure on a 15-game losing streak.

Santa Fe came close to winning this past season, falling by one to PK Yonge. However, its other nine losses came by an average of 40 points per game. This includes a 77-13 defeat to Fort White to end the season.

Szymanski ends his tenure with a 1-19 record. In its last four seasons, Santa Fe is 3-34.

Faulk told the Sun that the process of picking the new coach has already begun. The school posted about the opening on the FHSAA’s website, with applications open until February 16.

The school plans to wait to decide until applications close, but that could change if an outstanding candidate arises, Faulk said.

So far, applications have come in from all parts of the state. Faulk noted school alums will be considered but not given priority. Currently every program in Alachua County is coached by an alum of that school.

The Raiders run back a young roster, losing just six seniors. They return junior WR Ben Hockman (13^th in Class 2S in receiving yards), junior QB Erik Hockman (2^nd in 2S-District 7 in passing yards), junior LB Hunter Crevasse (1^st in District 7 in tackles) and senior kicker Nick Lawrence (8^th in 2S in FGs made).

As a result of the FHSAA scrapping the metro/suburban classification system, Santa Fe will play in Class 2A, Region 2, District 5 along with Newberry, Bradford, Keystone Heights and Palatka.

That’s a tough district for the Raiders as the four other teams earned playoff spots in 2023, with Bradford advancing to the Class 2S State Championship.

Noah Ram covers Gainesville-area high school sports and University of Florida athletics for The Gainesville Sun. Contact him at Nram@gannett.com and follow him @Noah_ram1 on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Santa Fe fires head football coach Joe Szymanski after two seasons