Palmetto brings aboard Braden River's Eric Sanders to become its head footbal coach
SARASOTA - Today, Palmetto High School athletic director Bryan Wilkes is a big fan of Eric Sanders.
It wasn’t always that way. When the Tigers played Braden River in football with Sanders as the Pirates’ offensive coordinator, the games always seemed to end with Braden River emerging victorious.
“There were times when we played them that we felt we should have beaten Braden River, and we lost,” Wilkes said. “We hated facing him. Before Tom Brady came to the Bucs, we all hated him, until he signed with the Bucs, and then he became the greatest guy in the world.”
Their guy: Braden River High stays in house, hires OC Eric Sanders as its head football coach
One and done: Rashad West steps down as Palmetto High football coach
Palmetto’s mantra? If you can’t beat him, hire him as your head coach, as the Pirates did on Tuesday by hiring Sanders just four months after he took the job at Braden River, replacing Curt Bradley, for whom Sanders served for 12 seasons as offensive coordinator.
Sanders replaces Jim Webb, the Palmetto assistant named interim head coach after West stepped down abruptly in March. Still, Wilkes didn’t open the position to candidates until two weeks before the start of spring football. He offered Webb the opportunity to interview, but he declined.
“People had reached out to us a couple of times,” Wilkes said. “We want the best for our kids. But we didn’t rush into it. We took our time. We wanted to make sure we got the right guy. I know that coach Sanders thought about it long and hard. He was one of the very last people to throw his name into the hat. And I was very surprised when he applied.”
Still, it wasn’t a slam dunk for Wilkes to hire Sanders. He also was considering a head coach born in the area, but now coaching outside it.
“There were no set parameters,” he said. “We just wanted someone who could relate to our kids and make the kids feel comfortable. He made us feel comfortable in the interview. It was tough, but I think we made the right decision.”
“I am grateful for my last 12 years of coaching at Braden River,” Sanders said in a statement. “I was happy to step up as head coach for a successful spring. This opportunity at Palmetto High School presented itself and I am extremely excited about it. The tradition and community of Palmetto is second to none. Their football program has a rich history of excellence, and I am very humbled and honored to be its next head football coach.”
Wilkes was asked why Sanders would leave a head coaching position just four months after accepting it.
“I think the bottom line is he thought he might have a better opportunity to move up and get on top of the hill (at Palmetto),” Wilkes said. “Braden River is a great program. He just felt that we have some athletes here who he would like to work with.
“We have talent. We have a lot of college coaches come in here to look at these guys. You need the perfect storm to be successful.”
Under West, who joined Palmetto after coaching four years at Lakewood Ranch, the Tigers finished the 2023 regular season 5-5, losing three of their final four, before falling to Riverview in the first round of the postseason.
As for Sanders, he will teach at Palmetto, as he did at Braden River. And he’s wasting little time immersing himself in the job. He’ll have his players on the practice field on Tuesday.
He believes the Tigers can win next season. Wilkes concurs.
“We have talent,” he said. “Our main goal is to be successful next season.”
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Palmetto fills its football head coaching position with the hiring of Sanders
