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GREG AUMANZephyrhills went 9-94 in four seasons with Tom O'Donnell at the helm.
ZEPHYRHILLS - After 12 years as a high school coach, Tom O'Donnell wants to try something new in his life.
O'Donnell, who went 9-94 in four seasons as the Zephyrhills boys basketball coach, resigned last week, giving the county two vacancies in one of its most prominent sports.
"It has nothing to do with the kids, or the school, and it's really not about the level of success we've had in the past four years," said O'Donnell, 35, who said he might pursue a future in school administration. "It's more of a personal thing. I've been coaching for 12 years, and I just decided it's time to move in a different direction. Stepping away from coaching basketball is the first step in getting there."
The Bulldogs made modest progress in O'Donnell's tenure, going 4-19 last season to finish seventh of nine teams in the Sunshine Athletic Conference.
O'Donnell, who played four years at Furman University in Greenville, S.C., had been the varsity assistant and junior varsity coach for four seasons when Craig Milburn stepped down in 2000. O'Donnell said his most likely successor, junior varsity coach and former girls coach Dale Palmer, also is not returning.
"He's be the person on staff who should take the ball and run with it, but I think he's at the same point I'm at right now," O'Donnell said.
Whoever takes over the basketball program will have little left from last year's team. Zephyrhills finished the season with seven varsity players and five, including starters Brian Prince, Travis Mickle, Casey Finley and Jake Ashmore, graduate this month.
The two returning players are starting center Brett Ross, a rising junior, and guard Justin Greenslate, a rising senior. O'Donnell said the junior varsity went 6-12 this season and likely will supply most of next year's varsity roster.
Principal Jim Davis said he's started to receive resumes and likely will meet with Milburn next week to determine a short list of finalists. The early applicants boast head coaching experience, including former Saint Leo women's coach David Wilson and Dennis Meers, who was the head boys coach at Gaither for one season in 2000.
Zephyrhills is the second county school needing a boys basketball coach, joining River Ridge, which is interviewing candidates to replace Gary Allen, who resigned in March. High school boys basketball coaches in Pasco County earned a supplement of $2,669 during the 2003-04 school year.
Zephyrhills has posted the job on the school district's Web site, along with three other head coaching positions: boys soccer, replacing first-year coach John Coykendall; golf, replacing longtime coach Bob Hatfield; and girls swimming, allowing Brian Vaile to coach just the boys this winter.