Tyrone Giscombe will mix old and new at Rockledge High football

A bit of John Wilkinson, a bit of Derek Smith, a bit of Wayne Younger.

There's more, of course, but new Rockledge High head coach Tyrone Giscombe gave those coaches he's worked and played for specific credit for how he's been shaped in the profession.

Wilkinson coached the Cocoa Tigers to four state titles. Derek Smith was part of a state finalist staff at Viera before taking over there. Younger is the man who resigned in early April after nine seasons with an average of more than seven wins.

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"I was blessed to able to work for some good head coaches and learn from them, and I always knew what I wanted when I became a head coach. I was that person that I want my assistants to be," Giscombe said last week, enumerating what he took from each. "Coach Wilkinson's discipline was second-to-none. He didn't tolerate anything. Coach Derek Smith was big on organization. He stuck with the schedule. Then Wayne Younger was a very good Xs and Os guy. He knew how to put defenses in a bind. All those guys brought something different."

Giscombe, who has been coaching defense for the Raiders and played defense under Wilkinson, has been a defensive specialist on the sidelines, but he asked Smith to let him coach receivers in 2017 and '18 at Viera, where he led a Hawks contingent that succeeded not just on the strength of one talent.

"I knew that, in order for me to be a great head coach, I had to expand my tool box. I had to get on the offensive side and learn. I got with coach Mike Degory. He gave me an opportunity to grow as an offensive guy. It all falls back to know what hurt us on defense. You know what gives you problems as a defense."

Among several other coaches he mentioned learning from despite not working for them was Tim Harris of Miami Booker T. Washington and "the structure he built, more of a modern scheme, kind of get your faster guys in space."

While he will oversee the entire program rather than focusing on offense or defense now, he said he will invest significant time in coaching special teams, an area he sees as "lacking" in recent Raiders seasons.

Giscombe's view of offense fits comfortably with his other coaching background, which is track and field. He's worked with those spring teams at each of his stops and was part of the Hawks' only Cape Coast Conference title while at Viera. He's a believer in multi-sport athletes.

"We're not just going to have guys sitting around," he said. "I believe you breed competitive nature through other sports. If you're competitive in track, it's only going to carry over into football. If you can go out there and stand in between those two lines and compete individually, you're not going to be scared to go out there as a defensive back on a one-on-one basis and compete on an island."

And those who will work on their speed on the track will be key to his offensive plans to take advantage of a quick attack.

"I think we've got a lot of those guys on our team. We had a good track season, and a lot of those guys have gotten faster," Giscombe said. The 4x100 relay team ran their relay in 41.4 seconds, and each of them also plays football. Giscombe repeatedly mentioned things like using players who "can turn a 2-yard hitch into a 20-yard gain."

"You'll notice that we're going to get our faster guys in space (in the passing game). Running the football, we'll be more of a gap-blocking scheme now versus zone, going back to the power run game. We'll kind of simplify things for our guys, allowing them to play fast, rather than having to think more."

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During the spring sessions he saw, his most pleasant observation came not in the Xs and Os.

"We've been missing something, I feel, in leadership, for the longest," he said. "The seniors did a good job; even some non-seniors stepped up. I was very pleased with the leadership and holding each other accountable."

As far as the team's off-field success, he stressed the importance of classroom work and the decorum involved.

"When I first got in as the interim on April 9, I reached out to every teacher on campus to let them know I have their back. If they have problems with any students, call me. I'll handle that. We had a couple the first week, and we slowly nipped it in the bud with extra running."

It's the Wilkinson effect he mentioned, and he spread the word throughout the team with one of his first decisions.

"I had two of my better players have to sit out in the spring, because they broke a rule," he said. Instead, they were at each practice, serving as water boys. "That showed everybody else, if he sat these two guys out, I know he's not playing with me. It kind of circulated through, and those guys came back the first day of summer workouts, and they worked."

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Rockledge new head coach Tyrone Giscombe plans for Raiders football