Huber steps down as Lemon Bay High boys basketball coach
ENGLEWOOD − Sean Huber realized his dream all the way through.
Now he and his wife Debbie will follow the dreams of their sons.
A former player and assistant coach at Lemon Bay High, Sean Huber stepped down as the Manta Rays basketball coach Sunday evening.
After playing for the legendary Tom Catanzarite, Huber then was the freshman head coach from 1993-96 and varsity assistant to Catanzarite from 1997-2010. Huber then took over the Manta Rays program. His record as a head coach was 174-161 with one district championship, three runners-up and a couple of Southwest Florida Florida Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year honors.
But Huber was so much more than a basketball coach.
He served as an assistant football coach at Lemon Bay from 1993 to 2017, the longest tenured football coach at the school. His roles included special teams coordinator, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator.
The 53-year-old Huber, who began coaching at the age of 23, also was the boys and girls track coach from 1993-2004. He had 127 individual district champions, 64 regional champions, 2 state champions, 25 top-five finishers.
In all, Huber put in 72 seasons as coach with Manta Rays sports programs.
He thanked his father, Bob, Catanzarite, Tom Dearr, Greg Krupa and Mike Messina, “just to name a few” for “teaching me the craft of coaching.”
His love was basketball, where he received an opportunity to coach both his sons, Cade and Jace, a 2023 graduate. Cade went on to be a student manager at the University of Central Florida and currently is a graduate student manager. Jace also will attend UCF.
“I have the opportunity next year to see both of my boys go to the same school and be a part of the same team for the first time in my life,” Huber wrote in his parting letter. “Debbie and I are excited about the opportunity to sit in the stands and just be parents.”
Huber will remain at Lemon Bay as a teacher and assistant director of athletics to Ryan LaVallee.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Huber steps down as Lemon Bay High boys basketball coach
