Air Diso attack grounded for now; Lake Nona coach resigns
Anthony Paradiso’s prolific passing game has been grounded.
Paradiso knows he has plenty of coaching left in him, but the 44-year-old engineer of the Air Diso attack also knows it won’t be at Lake Nona. The head football coach stepped down recently after 11 seasons with the Lions. He remains a physical education teacher at the school.
“I just believe that I’ve done everything I can at Lake Nona High School in the football program,” said Paradiso, who has coached for 23 years and been a head coach for 14, with a two-year stint at Crystal River and one year at Cypress Creek before moving on to Lake Nona.
“Maybe it’s time for someone else to come in and maybe take it to the next level. It was just time. I guess there’s no real reason. You just know when it’s time.”
Rumors have swirled about how Paradiso could be in line for the head coaching position at Tohopekaliga High, but he said his future remains undetermined.
“Every year, people have got me going somewhere, so I don’t pay attention to it,” Paradiso said. “God blessed me with the ability to coach and that’s a platform he gives me to impact people so I’ve got a lot of coaching left in me.
“I just think it was time at Lake Nona. I had a great staff and a lot of great people around me. We finished with 72 wins in 11 seasons, so it’s been a good run. I just think it’s time for the next chapter.”
Paradiso led the Lions to a 72-43 record, but perhaps even more impressive were the numbers his quarterbacks put up.
Paradiso was the offensive coordinator prior to becoming head coach in 2011, and he worked with quarterbacks such as Kevin Sousa, who went to Wake Forest; the school’s all-time passing leader Tucker Israel (Clemson); Mike McFarlane (Coastal Carolina, as a tight end); Michael Kern (Wake Forest); Conner Johnson (Southeastern); Kody Morrell (Keiser); Aidan Platon (Dordt); and Khari Rennie, who will be a senior next season.
Those quarterbacks posted combined yardage of more than 35,500 yards, 333 touchdowns and 138 interceptions. Paradiso’s appeal for the dink-and-dunk style passing attack, instead of the deep ball, helped his quarterbacks blossom with accuracy. The ability of receivers like Josh Sullivan, Ryan Sousa, Mehdi El Attrach, Deondre Farrier, Ulice Gillard III, Anthony Queeley, Anthony Manning, Makai Burris, Ethan Johnson, Manny Stokes, Devin Johnson, Carson Pielock and many others helped further the process.
“I was blessed, almost 12 years ago, when I got the
opportunity to get the job at Lake Nona,” Paradiso said. “It’s been fun and it wasn’t even about the wins. It was about the relationships that I made with those athletes,
and all of the kids we sent to the next level and all of the
kids that we sent to the military, and just kids that have graduated. I’ve really been blessed.”
His greatest relationships were with the quarterbacks.
“Obviously with coaching that position you are going to always be closer to those kids. Over the years, every senior quarterback that took snaps at Lake Nona went on to play college football,” Paradiso said. “That’s a pretty cool accomplishment. ... It’s a pretty cool thing to know I was part of that.”
But it didn’t stop on offense for Paradiso, who has also had special relationship with numerous defensive players, especially with four-year starter Zane Durant who signed to play
at Penn State last month and is enrolled at the Big Ten school this semester.
“I’ll hand it over at this time and I hope someone else can take it to another level,” he said.
He helped more than 70 players go on to play college football and has had 29 players dress out for NCAA Division I programs.
What these players do with their lives beyond football is how Paradiso will judge their success.
“As for on-field success, you can always look at ESPN
stats,” he said. “But the most successful will be determined by what these kids do with their degrees they
end up getting, what kind of husbands and fathers they
become.”