Dan Burke comes out of retirement to again coach Palm Bay High football
Faced with a coaching change, Palm Bay High administrators decided to return their best ever to the top of the football program on Thursday, announcing the return of Dan Burke to the head coaching position.
Burke stepped down in May of 2019 after 23 seasons during which he became the winningest head football coach at Brevard County schools. He left the top job with 214 wins, 21 postseason appearances and two state championships. Less than a year later, he was inducted into the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
"We strongly believe Dan is the right man to lead this group of coaches as we have several of what we consider to be future head coaches on staff," athletic director Brian Crowley said. "A goal of (principal Jud) Kaminski and I was to not only hire the best coach we could find but also to keep the current staff as much intact as possible."
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The job opened when third-year coach Jake Owens resigned to take a head coaching job in Kentucky. Burke has been on the staff during Owens' tenure.
Along with seven years at Winter Park Trinity Prep, Burke retired from the head position with 243 wins. He took over at Palm Bay in 1996 and led the program to state championships in 2000 and 2001. He previously attended Eau Gallie and played for the Commodores, then attended UCF, where he is also in the athletic hall of fame. He played professionally in the USFL.
Four Brevard schools already completed head coaching transitions in football since the end of last season. Heritage named Mykel Benson to replace Mark Ainsley in its top job. Bayside hired Billy Miller, previously the Eau Gallie defensive coordinator. MCC hired Cocoa assistant and former Holy Trinity head coach Nate Hooks. Most recently, Astronaut announced the hiring of DeLand associate head coach Logan Hallock to take over its football program.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Palm Bay moves hall of fame coach Dan Burke back to top spot
