TIMMONS NAMED BUCCANEERS HIGH SCHOOL COACH OF THE YEAR
Southeast High School head football coach Brett Timmons has been named the Tampa Bay Buccaneers High School Coach of the Year for 2021. Timmons was selected from among 10 coaches who received Coach of the Month honors throughout the 2021 season. He is the only Manatee County coach to be named the Bucs’ high school football coach of the year.
“This award has my name on it, but it is really about the kids, the coaching staff and the community,” Timmons said.
“It doesn’t happen if our kids don’t buy into what we’re doing and work hard at it. This symbolizes what can be accomplished when we work together.”
Timmons will receive a $2,000.00 grant from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Foundation to help maintain and upgrade their football program. He will also represent the Buccaneers as the Don Shula Coach of the Year nominee.
The criteria for being nominated for the award included having a winning record (Southeast went 5-3 in 2021, winning its last four games of the regular season), beat a longtime rival, snap a losing streak, defeat a defending champion, and/or record an amazing comeback victory; show commitment to his player’s safety by teaching the fundamentals of the game, proper tackling techniques; concussion management practices and adherence to heat and hydration techniques; display a strong rapport and have earned respect from his players; have developed a mutually respectful relationship with game officials by using acceptable methods for questioning and avoiding disruptive behavior. He also needed to be a leader in the game field by always exhibiting positive behavior, be involved with outside organizations such as camps, clinics and coaching conventions, be involved with community programs and developed excellent relationships with other coaches by being cooperative, considerate and being positive with game related media statements.
Timmons was a star linebacker for the Southeast Seminoles in the 1990s where the Seminoles last captured back-to-back state titles in 1993 and 1994. He went on to play at Tulane University as part of the 1998 undefeated Green Wave season, graduating in 1999 with a B.A. degree in Communications. He landed a position at Clemson University and got a internship with the Indianapolis Colts — when Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning were there — before returning home and building Out-of-Door Academy’s football program as its first head coach. He was hired as Southeast’s head coach in December 2017.
Timmons gives credit to his parents for his success.
“I would not be where I am today without my parents,” he said. “They are the sum total of who I am and what I have in my life. My mother was an educator and she instilled in us the value of giving back and the value of being a servant leader. She was the epitome of servant leadership. All I’ve ever wanted to do was make my parents proud.”
Mission accomplished.
