Bradenton Christian hires Scott Paravicini as its new football coach
BRADENTON — When looking for a new Bradenton Christian School football coach, it came down to who was the “best fit” to take the program forward.
After whittling the 54 candidates down to eight and then a final two, Panthers director of athletics Cole Hudson came up with the only choice.
Friday, Bradenton Christian introduced Scott Paravicini as its fifth football coach in the 15-year history of the program.
“At the end of the day, Scott for the last years poured his heart and soul into our football program as defensive coordinator,” Hudson said. “We had some very good resumes come in, but we just kept talking ‘fit, fit, fit.’ We think Scott has the opportunity to grow the program and get kids to come out for football who have not come out before.”
At around 3:20 p.m., Paravicini walked into the football meeting room on the second floor of the Panthers’ new gymnasium to a rousing ovation from the more than 30 potential football players in the room.
Former coach Greg Williford, who stepped down after three seasons, hired Paravicini as a first-time defensive coordinator three years ago off the Lakewood Ranch staff.
Paravicini told the student/athletes, some in middle school, that the Panthers “will continue what Williford started and continue to do things the right way and live up to the expectations that are set for us.”
Born in Sarasota and a graduate of Lakewood Ranch High, Paravicini was the special teams' coordinator and the defensive backs coach during his three years on the Mustangs staff under first Mick Koczersut and Christopher Culton.
Looking to become a defensive coordinator, Paravicini was on his honeymoon in Boone, North Carolina at the time he received the call to join Williford’s staff.
Maybe not so ironically there were people wearing Bradenton Christian shirts in the restaurant where he was eating at the time of the call.
“I took that as my sign,” Paravicini said.
A linebacker for the Mustangs and Warner University in Lake Wales, Paravicini hopes to bring “a lot of exergy and excitement.
“We’ve done some good things in the three years that I’ve been here and Greg was in charge. Go in and attack each day and mentor the young men here. And hopefully, win some football games along the way.”
The 28-year-old Paravicini coaches weightlifting and HOPE Physical Education (Health Opportunities through Physical Education) at Bradenton Christian. He also coaches the girls and boys weightlifting teams.
“That will be a major focus of ours, especially with how young of a football team we are going to be,” Paravicini said after the Panthers graduated 11 of the 30 players from last year’s roster. “We have to get these kids in the weight room to get them ready to play the 10 games. We have to develop the young guys and get them ready”
“The kids have responded to him extremely well ever since he stepped on campus,” Hudson said.
The Panthers have gone 13-12 the past three seasons. Last year in their return to the Florida High School Athletic Association from the Sunshine State Athletic Conference, they finished 4-6, narrowly missing the playoffs in the FHSAA RPI power rankings.
“Obviously, some things will be different,” Paravicini said. “Greg left a foundation for me to build off of. Some tweaks and changes will be made.”
“I couldn’t be happier,” Williford said of the hire.
As far as his first order of business, Paravicini has some coaching vacancies to fill.
“I have some ideas of who I want,” he said. “My staff is 95 percent of where I want it to be.”
Dennis Maffezzoli is the deputy sports editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and chief reporter for Sarasota Herald-Tribune and HTpreps covering Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Bradenton Christian hires Scott Paravicini as its new football coach
