P.B. Central hires Littles away from Virginia school

New coach built 21-15 record over last three seasons

Palm Beach Central lost its last coach to an out-ofstate school. Now, the Broncos have returned the favor.

Palm Beach Central hired Scottie Littles, who was the head coach at Virginia’s King’s Fork High, as the program’s new head coach, as first reported by VirginiaPreps.com and confirmed by Littles on Friday.

“I think Central is an amazing place,” Littles said. “They have a base of talent, they have great assistant coaches already on staff. Coach Tino [Ierulli] built a great thing; he did a great job with that program. And it was an opportunity for me to grow and continue to do what I need to do.

“The biggest thing is putting some roots in the ground. I’m going to buy a house, I’m going to settle in, and me and my wife are looking to be a part of the Central family for years to come.”

Littles replaces Ierulli, who coached the Broncos for five years before departing to coach Georgia’s Shiloh High. Ierulli cited low pay as a major reason for leaving to coach in Georgia.

“[Georgia’s system] blows Florida’s out of the water,” Ierulli told the Sun Sentinel in January. “It’s ridiculous. For any teacher to stay in Florida when they have the opportunity to go to Georgia, I just don’t understand.”

Littles has a history of success in Virginia, going 21-15 in three seasons as King’s Fork’s head coach and leading the program to its first-ever Southeastern District title, according to the Suffolk News Herald.

“We won a district title in 2017, which nobody else in our district has done for the past 12 years,” Littles said. “A school named Oscar Smith has been a storied powerhouse school in the state of Virginia. They were in our district, and we upset them our last game of the year to win the district. … We really built something special at King’s Fork.”

Littles, who said he plans to run a spread-style offense and a versatile defense, has experience coaching in Florida, having previously been an assistant coach at Sarasota’s Booker and Tampa’s Chamberlain.

“I try to keep up with Florida football, so I knew what Central was about and what had been built,” Littles said.

Littles takes over a program that is coming off back-to-back district titles and has gone 20-5 over the last two years. But the Broncos are losing a lot of talent to graduation.

Palm Beach Central loses 31 seniors, including star cornerback Akeem Dent, who enrolled early at Florida State, and offensive lineman Renato Brown, who signed with Louisville. But Littles is not worried about having to rebuild the roster, saying Ierulli did a good job developing players.

“That talent there is ridiculous,” he said, “and if we can find a way to stick together and be a family, there’s no reason Palm Beach Central can’t be in [the title hunt] in December.”

The Broncos’ new coach said he will be in town next week to meet the team before moving to South Florida for good.

“Next week, I’m meeting the whole team, the players, the community, the parents,” Littles said. “I think that’s considered a challenge when you’re an outsider, but I have no issues with that.”

Littles