- December 4, 2025
Tim Huth was Charles Brinkerhoff’s driver’s education teacher at Mainland High School in 1976-77. Years later, when Huth was the principal at Mainland, he hired Brinkerhoff to be the school’s head basketball coach, even though Brinkerhoff had no prior head coaching experience.
Huth, 74, an educator for over 36 years in Volusia County, died of a heart attack on July 2. Brinkerhoff, now a social studies teacher at Spruce Creek High School, got a chance at the end of May to tell Huth how much he’s meant to him as a teacher and mentor.
“He came to my classroom one last time,” Brinkerhoff said. “(Spruce Creek Principal Todd Sparger) brought him to my room. The seniors were already gone, so it was a quiet time. And I got to tell him to his face that he was the best principal I ever worked for, right in front of Dr. Sparger, but (Sparger) laughed. He knows how much Tim means to me.”
A funeral mass will be held for Huth at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Ormond Beach on Wednesday, July 9, at 10 a.m. following a viewing at 9-10, according to a Lohman Funeral Home Ormond obituary.
Huth was Mainland High’s principal from 1990-1995 before moving up to the Volusia County School District office, first as an area superintendent and then as deputy superintendent from 1997-2010.
He was a finalist for the superintendent’s position twice, getting edged out by a 3-2 School Board vote in 2003 and then was a finalist in 2019 to be interim superintendent.
He retired in 2010 but returned to Mainland as interim principal in 2019 after a testing scandal at the school.
“Going back to Mainland, after he was out of the system, that’s a commitment to education,” Brinkerhoff said.
Daytona Beach Mayor Derrick Henry, a Mainland graduate who also was a teacher and coach under Huth at Mainland, posted on Facebook that Daytona Beach and Volusia County “lost a mountain of a man.”
“Tim Huth, an educational giant and a community titan for over 50 years, has been the most impactful public school administrator of his generation,” Henry posted. “Most specifically, more than any person in the illustrious history of Mainland High School, he has embodied the expression ‘Buc Pride Never Dies.’”
After retiring, Huth remained active in the community as chair of the Checker Flag Committee at Daytona International Speedway, a member and former chair of the Halifax Health Public Relations Committee and a member of the board of directors of Vince Carter’s Embassy of Hope Foundation among other community organizations.
He was a shining star. He remembered every single student’s name when I was around him.
— CHARLES BRINKERHOFF
Huth received presidential recognition for educational excellence from President George H.W. Bush in 1992, President Bill Clinton in 1995 and President George W. Bush in 2002.
Huth graduated from the University of Cincinnati and became a teacher at Mainland in 1974. He taught several subjects and was also a swim coach, tennis coach, department chair, athletic director and dean of students at Mainland before becoming assistant principal (1987) and then principal at Holly Hill Junior High/Middle School before returning to Mainland.
Brinkerhoff said Huth let his application sit on his desk for a couple of months before he hired him as head boys basketball coach.
“Finally, he said, ‘I’m going to do what’s best for the students of Mainland High School,’” said Brinkerhoff, who would take the Bucs to four Final Four appearances and win three state championships in the 1990s.
“He was a shining star,” Brinkerhoff said. “He remembered every single student’s name when I was around him. He made us as students believe we belonged to Mainland. And he made people around him better. He made me a better teacher.”
Central Florida area swim coach Darl Bonemma who swam for Huth at Mainland and on Huth’s club team, posted on Facebook that Huth “is the main reason I became a swim coach. I will always appreciate and love his special gift of caring and helping kids when they needed it, including me. Rest in peace Coach Huth. We will miss you.”
Huth is survived by Charmaine, his wife of 52 years, his children Timmy and Heidi, his grandchildren Joey and Minh and his siblings Barbara, Jerry, Chris and Tracy.
