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The Search is On: Storm’s Bangley will stay as A.D. PDF Print E-mail
Sports
Friday, 15 January 2010 12:42
By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer
Celebration’s John Bangley has stepped down as the Storm’s football coach, but he will remain as the school’s athletic director.
In two seasons, CHS was 3-17 under Bangley on the field; a fourth win came in December, when Auburndale had to forfeit a district victory to the Storm.
Celebration played in a district (3A-9) last season for the first time since 2004.
Bangley, who coached at Lakeland All Saints and in his native Suffolk, Va. prior to leading the Storm, said his decision to step aside, made last week and presented to Celebration’s players on Monday, was solely his decision.
“My livelihood here is being the athletic director, and doing that and coaching football prevented me from doing either job justice,” he said. “The program needs more guidance from the AD. There were days I went to football practice where I hadn’t thought about football for five minutes, and I never got to see any of the other fall sports.”
Bangley said he made the move to benefit the  athletic program.
“There’s never a great time, but it’s a good time to do this,” he said. “It’s the best decision to move forward and make a step in the right direction, for me professionally and for the football team and the entire program.
“This is not a sign at all that I’ve given up on the football team. We’ve made some strides since I started (in the spring of 2008).”
Bangley’s son, junior quarterback Geoff Bangley, has played for the Storm the past two seasons.
“I’ve been coaching him all along; now I hope to just be a dad for a change,” the elder Bangley said.
Bangley is receiving applications for the football opening, and had “two or three inches of paperwork,” on his desk less than 24 hours after the job was posted Monday.
He said that Principal Laura Rhinehart and Assistant Principal Gary Weeden will head up the search for the new coach.
Bangley may be hanging up his whistle, but his workload is not dropping, as Celebration will host the girls and boys 4A District 6 soccer tournaments over the next two weeks.
 

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