- April 24, 2024
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At age 28, Daniel Fish knows he is fortunate to be the new head football coach at Flagler Palm Coast High School, one of the top large-school programs in Northeast Florida.
But it hasn’t been just luck that has helped him ascend so quickly up the coaching ranks. Even the toughest battle a person could bear has been important in Fish’s meteoric rise.
Fish was named the Bulldogs’ head coach on Wednesday, March 29. He had been the head coach at Father Lopez for the past three seasons, getting the job just one year out of college at age 25, benefiting from a series of hiring missteps.
At FPC, Fish replaces Robert Paxia, who left after two seasons to become the head coach at Winder-Barrow High School in Georgia.
FPC athletic director Steve DeAugustino said Fish stood out among the other candidates.
“He came across as a very sincere person, very down to earth,” DeAugustino said. “He’s a player’s coach is the best way I can describe it. You know he’s got the players’ best interests in heart.”
Fish played linebacker at Collins Hill High School in Gwinnett County, Georgia, and continued his football career at Valdosta State University.
After he graduated from college, Fish moved to Flagler Beach in 2019 to join his family. His brother and his family moved here when Fish was still in high school. Fish’s parents and two more siblings moved down when he was in college.
“Being close to my family and having the opportunity to be with them was crucial to me,” he said.
Matt Knauss, the head coach at Father Lopez at the time, is also from Gwinnett County, and he and Fish had mutual friends. Knauss gave Fish a job on this staff in 2019, and before Fish coached a down, Knauss left the program and Fish moved up to defensive coordinator.
He held that position for one year before Knauss’ replacement, Chris Stephenson, was let go.
The Green Wave offered the head coaching job to one coach and then rescinded the offer. Veteran Volusia County coach Rocky Yocam then accepted the position before he changed his mind when the arrangement fell through.
“I was the next option,” Fish said.
At the time, Fish was finishing up chemotherapy for Stage 3B testicular cancer, which spread to his abdomen and lungs. He finished the treatments in mid-2020, right around the Covid shutdown.
“(The cancer) was pretty well along (when it was diagnosed),” he said. “I think I played some college football with it. It was really shocking, really tough. But ever since, I’ve been really healthy.”
The experience gave him a new appreciation on life.
You appreciate waking up every day. You appreciate being able to go do what you love, and you appreciate not having any type of limitations on what you can eat, what you can do. — DANIEL FISH
“It taught me a lot about resiliency,” he said. “You appreciate waking up every day. You appreciate being able to go do what you love, and you appreciate not having any type of limitations on what you can eat, what you can do, the whole nine yards.”He said he’s learned not to take anything for granted especially the opportunity to teach and coach.
“I think it helped me introduce adversity to (the players) and tell them, “You can overcome bad things that happen in your life. You can't let it get you down, you can't let it defeat you, you can't let it beat you. (They know) I'm not out here preaching something that I haven't done or haven't been through.”
After Fish interviewed with FPC administrators during spring break, he hung around and watched the Bulldogs’ softball game.
At the end of the day, he just seemed like the type of guy our kids would be able to relate to. — STEVE DEAUGUSTINO, FPC athletic director
“He wanted to see what the kids were like,” DeAugustino said. “When we introduced him to the team (on March 29), one of his statements was, ‘I’m here to support you,’ not the other way around. It was actually pretty refreshing. At the end of the day, he just seemed like the type of guy our kids would be able to relate to.”
Fish said he is not interested in imposing his will or his system on the team.
“I’m a players’ coach, 100%,” he said. “You got to come in and earn the respect of the players and build a good connection, a good relationship, with them. Once you do that, they’ll trust you, they’ll believe in you. They’ll buy into your system.”
Fish is excited about the Bulldogs' returning talent, led by quarterback D.J. Murray, linebacker Rodney Hill and running back Marcus Mitchell.
“I knew who they were even before I knew the job was coming open,” he said. “I’m excited to work with those three dudes here. They’re awesome football players, and from what I’ve seen so far, they’re awesome kids as well. Obviously, they're going to lead by example with their play, but we need them to lead with their voices and in their mentalities as well.”
Fish said that while Murray’s strength is his scrambling and running ability, he also has great arm talent.
“We trust in D.J. to lead the offense,” he said. “And I think with the quarterback coach that we're targeting to bring in, he's really going to help (Murray) elevate his game in a lot of areas.
“We’re going to run multiple sets. We’re going to spread the ball around to our talented athletes.”
Since 2010, the Bulldogs have not had a head football coach stay longer than four years. DeAugustino believes Fish will be around a while.
“I know he wants to get involved with the community,” DeAugustino said. “I think he’s going to stay for an extended period of time. I feel like he’s on the verge of being a great coach.”
