Park Vista hires new head football coach for fourth consecutive season

Park Vista High School is introducing a new head football coach for the fourth consecutive season.

Park Vista principal Dr. Enrique Vela announced in a press release that Donald Hanna, the team's defensive coordinator, was hired for the head coach position.

Hanna joined the staff with outgoing head coach Don Ferraro, who joined the program ahead of the 2023 season.

The Cobras finished 3-7, but fielded a number of impressive talents, including seniors Sean Silva and Devin Connally, and showed promise for the future in junior Brock Mitchell and sophomore Byron White − all studs on Hanna's defense.

“We look forward to Coach Hanna leading the Cobras next season and continuing our commitment to academic and athletic excellence,” Vela said.

The press release described Hanna as being "excited about his new role with the team."

“I am well aware of the enormous opportunity that I have to re-establish Park Vista as an elite football program in Palm Beach County,” Hanna said.

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Hanna's history in Palm Beach County

This isn't Hanna's first time in the front seat.

After the Boca Raton High graduate's college career at Albany State University, he returned to the sidelines to be a member of Village Academy's inaugural roster as defensive coordinator and was promoted to head coach in 2009. He went on to lead the Tigers for eight years, leading the now-defunct team to a 38-45 record during his tenure, which was highlighted by four playoff appearances

Hanna stepped away in 2016, citing that he felt he'd "maxed out the potential of the program" and wanted to "let someone else take a stab at it." In March 2018, he was assigned to rebuild the football team at Lake Worth. Hanna was the head coach until the 2021 season, when he was replaced by Rod Nichols. Nichols was fired in December, one of now five changes announced in Palm Beach County this offseason.

Turnstile at Park Vista spins into 2024-25 season

Palm Beach County has been no stranger to a massive coaching turnover in recent years. Park Vista has been a part of it almost each season since the departure of former coach Brian Dodds.

Then one of two head coaches in program history, Dodds took the helm in 2006. By the time he left 15 years later, he'd built a team that had made nine state playoff appearances and amassed a record of 107-47.

In 2021, former NFL fullback and Pro Bowler Leonard Weaver III was assigned to take the reins. Despite reviving the Cobras' success and leading the team to a 7-3 record, Weaver was fired in February 2022 − a decision that resulted in protests at the school's Lake Worth campus.

Then, Brandon Walker was beckoned back to the headset, leaving his role as athletic director at Boca Raton High to be Vista's next head football coach. The team went 2-8. That March, Walker informed Vista administration that he wouldn't return.

He ultimately made the move to start the football team at Palm Beach County's newest high school Dr. Joaquin Garcia with former Park Vista athletic director Pam Romero.

Next in line is Ferraro, who seemed to be up to return to the program for the 2024-25 season based on posts to X (formerly Twitter). Ferraro's January timeline was full of videos and pictures of Park Vista student-athletes in attendance for Saturday morning workouts, as well as posts promoting the team's fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen 2024 West Palm Beach MORE THAN PINK Walk, held last Saturday.

The Post has reached out to Ferraro for comment.

This is a developing story. Emilee Smarr is a sports reporter for the Palm Beach Post. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Park Vista hires new head football coach for fourth consecutive season