Aside from Alcoa owning whichever classification its competing in, change is constant in high school football. Since the final state champion was crowned last December, rules have been tweaked, teams have been uprooted from one class to another, and both the coaching carousel and the transfer portal for players have spun sharply.
As the Times Free Press continues its series counting down to the start of prep football season, today we take a quick look back at some of the most significant changes that have taken place during the offseason.
New faces in new places: Although there were fewer head coaching changes among area programs than in recent years, the ones that did happen were significant.
When Gary Rankin, the state’s all-time winningest head coach, stepped down at Boyd Buchanan in early February, the team was fortunate enough to have several experienced and worthy candidates already on staff. Former Notre Dame head coach Charles Fant, who guided the Fighting Irish to a Division II-AA state runner-up finish in 2017, was chosen to take over a Buccaneers program that went 43-7 during Rankin’s four years, including a 2023 BlueCross Bowl appearance and two other seasons that reached the semifinals.
Fant had also worked as a Bucs assistant in the early 2000s when they played in three straight Class 1A state championship games, winning their lone title in 2003. As head coach at Notre Dame, he had six seasons of nine wins or more, including three trips to the semifinals, and 81 wins total over 12 seasons.