Strawberry Crest hires Armwood assistant Kelly as head coach

As a former Armwood player and assistant coach, John Kelly says he knows it's a long and often challenging process to create a successful football program.

As the third Strawberry Crest head coach since the school first opened in 2009, Kelly has the opportunity to put those beliefs to the test.

"Armwood opened in 1983 and didn't make the playoffs for the first time until my senior year, 1996," said Kelly, 33. "We live in an instant-gratification society, but I'm going in with a long-term mentality and trying to offer the kids some stability and guidance."

Kelly was officially named the Chargers' coach Friday by athletic director Melvin Williams. He has prior experience as a head coach at Cambridge Christian in Tampa, where he coached three seasons, and he was offensive coordinator at Strawberry Crest for one season under the Chargers' first head coach, Todd Donohoe, who was also an Armwood assistant.

Kelly played tight end for Armwood and, after graduation, served four years in the U.S. Army. Kelly has worked a total of five seasons as an Armwood assistant. He has been the Hawks' strength and conditioning coach and tight ends coach.

Since Kelly is a teacher at Strawberry Crest, Williams said Kelly's transition should be a smooth one. Williams said he and Chargers Principal David Brown were also impressed with Kelly's personal character and vision for the program.

"He's an excellent teacher who is already here on the campus so he has a good rapport with the kids, Williams said. "I think he has a good plan for the program, and I think his style of coaching will be a good fit for the athletes we have."

Kelly replaces Gerold Dickens, who went 1-9 in his only season last fall.

In late October, Dickens was suspended one game by school officials following an internal investigation for what Principal David Brown called "inappropriate behavior" during a practice session. The incident involved a comment Dickens made to his squad.

This month, Dickens said he and the school decided to "move on," and he stepped down from the position.

Armwood coach Sean Callahan said Kelly was a "great pick," adding that Kelly was ready to be a head coach.

"He's been here at Armwood so he knows what he's getting into and knows the work it takes to build a program." said Callahan, who has had several assistants go on to become head coaches. "We're just so happy for Coach Kelly. We expect him to do great things at Strawberry Crest. He is very deserving and has done a fantastic job for us here at Armwood."

Kelly said he will begin organizing his staff in the next few weeks. In the meantime, he said he will remain as the Chargers' boys track coach one more season.

Inheriting a struggling football program that has faced instability on its coaching staff, Kelly says he understands what he's up against, including playing at least one more season in district against powerful teams such as Armwood, Hillsborough and Sickles. But he says he is determined to do things "the right way."

"Everything I do, I want to do it the right way so that hopefully, down the road, these kids will look back at their time with me and they will say, 'That's a coach who valued character and integrity as much as he did winning,' " Kelly said. "That's the type of student-athletes I want to produce."