Breaking: BJ Hall fired as head football coach at Sunlake (Florida)
LAND O’ LAKES, Florida – Sunlake High School will soon be searching for its fifth head football coach since the start of the 2021 season.
SBLive Sports has learned that BJ Hall has been fired as head coach at Sunlake in the aftermath of a brawl that occurred on May 1st between two assistant coaches at the school. SBLive reached out to Hall, who had been on administrative leave since the incident, as well as Pasco County athletic director Matthew Wicks, but did not reach either prior to the publication of this story.
Hall announced his departure to the Sunlake players and coaching staff in a group chat shared with SBLive Sports by several sources.
"I would like to tell you before it gets out that I will not be the Head Coach anymore at Sunlake High School and I thank you for the past 5 months," wrote Hall. "I am terribly sorry about how this went down and I hope to stay in touch with you and continue to be a resource for your and your families."
Neither of the coaches involved in the May 1st incident are still with the team. Offensive coordinator Connor Ferst, who alleged that he was attacked during practice, resigned immediately from his position with the team, while McClendon was relieved of his duties with the team the same day.
BJ Hall addresses the Sunlake football team at the start of spring practice.
Hall was hired as Sunlake’s head coach on Dec. 13, 2022 after being an assistant at Zephryhills Christian Academy during the 2022 season. Hall, who also runs the Quarterback House in Trinity, Florida, last was a head coach in the Tampa Bay Area at American Collegiate (Clearwater, Florida) between 2017-2018, compiling an overall record of 13-8.
RELATED: BJ Hall tabbed as Sunlake's fourth head coach in school history
The former Arena Football League/Canadian Football League quarterback was hired after the 2022 season, taking over when the school decided not to promote John Gilmore from his interim status, to head coach. Gilmore went 0-8 after taking over from Allen Suber II, who was dismissed as head coach at Sunlake on Sep. 6th.
Suber II, who is now the offensive coordinator at Wharton High School, went 1-1 in two games before Sunlake principal Kara Merlin parted ways with the former Bethune-Cookman associate head coach.
“I think for the long term stability of the program, this was something we needed to do,” Merlin said back on Sep. 6, 2022 when she parted ways with Suber. Suber had replaced Trey Burdick, who was let go on Jan. 7, 2022, after going 8-21 in three seasons.
The sudden coaching instability at Sunlake is in stark contrast to the leadership provided by the program's founder, Bill Browning. Browning led the Seahawks for 13 seasons posting a record of 73-53, which included seven winning campaigns and four postseason berths.
There is no word yet on who may replace Hall, but the Seahawks do have a spring game scheduled against Sarasota on May 18th.
Andy Villamarzo can be reached at andyvillamarzo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Villamarzo.
