John Scargle has spent the past three seasons guiding the Hernando High football team and seemed poised to lead the Leopards into a promising fourth campaign in the fall.
Instead, the school will enter the summer seeking out a new head coach after Scargle stepped down on Wednesday, a little over a week before the Leopards’ spring classic game at Fivay on May 22.
On Tuesday, Scargle accepted a job coaching defensive back at a Division III school in Western Pennsylvania. He said he was asked not to reveal which school until his hiring was officially announced.
“It was really tough,” Scargle said of leaving Hernando. “We had an emotional meeting today with all the players. Put a good coaching staff in place. I think we’ve got a really good opportunity to be even more successful as we’ve built this thing the last three years the right way, in the weight room, in the meeting room, in the film room.
“We’ve got 60 kids on the roster right now. We’ve got about 25 coming in as incoming freshmen. I think it’s just going in the right direction. Everything’s a struggle, though, because there’s not a lot of money for facilities and things so you’ve got to do a ton of fundraising. And there’s always obstacles every day that you’ve got to overcome.
“It was a real tough decision. But I’ve put Hernando High School above my family the last three years. Now I’ve got to put my family above them, which is hard.”
One of the primary motivators for this move was Scargle’s son, Nicolas, recently transferred to West Virginia University for the final year of his college soccer career. He had played at USF the previous three seasons.
“We’re heading up there so we can see his final season,” the elder Scargle said. “It gives me a chance to get back into coaching college football. That’s where I’ll spend the rest of my years coaching. I think I’m going to stay up there and spend the next 10 years coaching college.
“We went up to West Virginia for the spring league where they played Georgetown and Pitt and Maryland and Duke. We just had an unbelievable time up there, we love it up there. … We’re very excited about this new adventure in our lives.”
Scargle had previously coached at Division II St. Anselm College in New Hampshire back in 2018. Prior to arriving at Hernando, for most of the past two decades he coached in Pinellas County, primarily at Clearwater Central Catholic where he was defensive coordinator for 14 seasons. He was head coach at Palm Harbor University High in 2017, going 4-5 before leaving in the summer of 2018 for the job at St. Anselm.
The Leopards went 3-7 in his first year at the helm in 2022, then 4-6 and 6-4 for a 13-17 record overall.
“I think we did it the right way,” Scargle said. “We didn’t go out and try to recruit players. We just did it organically, basically building a house from the ground up. When I took over, they had a strong senior class in the ’21 season that led them to a 6-5 season and they all graduated, and I was kind of left with a junior varsity team with not a lot of experience on the varsity level. So it took a little bit, but last year we showed some signs of improvement.
“I think we have a lot in place. We have a lot of returning starters and I think they’re going to be very successful.”
Scargle believes he’s leaving behind a strong coaching staff that can handle the remainder of the spring. He said former Lecanto head coach Wyndell “Chop” Alexander, who recently came to Hernando after spending last season as Bill Vonada’s defensive coordinator at Crystal River, would serve as interim head coach. However, both Alexander and athletic director Jeff Laing declined to confirm that pending approved by school administration.
Still, Scargle has recommended Alexander as his replacement. Known simply as “Chop” around Citrus County, Alexander has spent time at all three public high schools in that county, including his three seasons as head coach at Lecanto from 2020-22, leading the Panthers to a 16-14 record and their first playoff victory in 2022.
“He’s on campus. The kids love him. He’s really good. He has a ton of experience,” Scargle said of Alexander. “He’s been working with the back end, the linebackers and the secondary. He was a great addition this offseason to our program.”
Laing said he will be meeting with the coaching staff to formulate an action plan for the remainder of the spring and into the summer. The school will begin accepting applicants for the next head coach by the end of the week and hopes to start interviews on the week of June 9. The desire is to fill the position quickly given the summer timeline.
“Obviously we were shocked with the news. However, Coach Scargle is looking to improve himself by going up a level and we certainly always support that with any of our coaches,” Laing said. “I think we’ve made very good progress. I know that in building off the success that we had last year at the end with big wins against Lecanto and against Nature Coast, I’ve heard nothing but good reports from the kids regarding spring. Really felt that we were on the right track to continue that success from the previous season.
“In addition I know Coach Scargle was excited about his staff that he had put together. Really felt that we had some good coaches that are going to be around for the fall and that’s always very, very important in football to have the right staff around you, as well, because you’re dealing with so many kids.”
