After 6 seasons, Spanish River dismisses coach Ceasar

Spanish River fired head football coach Bill Ceasar, Ceasar and Spanish River Principal William Latson confirmed to the Sun Sentinel on Thursday.

“We just need to move on to a different direction with the program,” Latson said.

Ceasar’s dismissal, as first reported by the Palm Beach Post, comes after six years as the Sharks head coach.

“It’s all about the kids,” Ceasar said. “I enjoyed working with the kids and being there for them and helping them in any way that I could.”

Latson said the school decided to let Ceasar go in May, but Ceasar didn’t inform the team until Thursday. Ceasar said he was informed of his dismissal then.

“That decision was made last month,” Latson said. “He wasn’t just informed [Thursday]. He had been informed before. … [Thursday] wasn’t his first notification.”

Said Ceasar: “Since it’s extracurricular, they really don’t have to give an explanation. They’re just moving forward with the program.”

Latson said he expects to hire a new coach in the next two weeks.

Ceasar took over the Spanish River program before the 2013 season. Before the Sharks alumnus started coaching at his alma mater, Spanish River was in a multiyear slump, going 5-65 from 2006 through 2012. In his six years at Spanish River, Ceasar went 13-46.

Ceasar, who previously coached at Summit Christian (now Atlantic Christian), had mixed success in building the football program. He went winless in his first year as the Sharks head coach before picking up his first victory in 2014.

“They were so used to losing, that was the hard challenge,” Caesar said. “Once they bought into what we were doing and what we were trying to accomplish, we started winning.”

Spanish River surprised Palm Beach County by improving to 5-5 in 2015 before falling back below .500 in 2016. The Sharks continued to decline until finishing the 2018 season winless again.

Ceasar attributed part of last season’s struggles to a brain injury suffered by captain Miles Levine in last year’s Kickoff Classic. Levine recovered, but the injury harmed the team psychologically, Ceasar said.

“When that happened, it just took the whole morale of the team,” Ceasar said. ”We were concerned about Miles, concerned about other injuries. Some kids walked away from football. It was a tough year.”

Ceasar said he plans to remain at Spanish River as a teacher.

Ceasar’s dismissal comes on the heels of tragic news for Spanish River. A former football player, Jordan Henry, died in a car crash Wednesday.