Telegraph Staff Writer
Bradford High School’s football program and Head Coach Brian Tomlinson will be parting ways after Superintendent of Schools Will Hartley decided the program needed to be under different leadership.
Tomlinson, who went 33-26 in five seasons and qualified for the playoffs every year, said he was surprised by the decision, especially considering that one of the things people wanted to see when he was hired was the increase of college opportunities for BHS football players. Tomlinson said the mindset at the time was that if a student-athlete at BHS wanted to go to college, he had to go to another high school to get it.
“I felt like we changed that, with 34 kids being offered,” Tomlinson said. “That number could continue to rise, depending on how many others get offers.”
Hartley admitted that Tomlinson did some good things for the program, but said Tomlinson’s coaching style didn’t mesh with his philosophies on how the program should move forward.
Plus, Hartley believes the program is capable of more.
“I know we’ve had a lot of kids who’ve had interest from colleges and stuff like that during his five years here, but after his first year, it’s been pretty much .500 football,” Hartley said, adding, “This is a place where there is always talent. There’s always going to be talent on the field. I truly believe that a really good coach can come in here and create a legacy for themselves and build a really strong program that can compete year in and year out. That’s what we’re going to be looking to do.”
Tomlinson is the only football coach in BHS history to go to the playoffs five straight years, which equaled the number of playoff appearances the program had in the 13 years prior to his hiring. He was one of three coaches to make it to the postseason multiple years, joining David Hurse and Rowland Cummings. His teams had a 6-5 postseason record, reaching the regional- championship level twice and advancing to the state semifinals once.
Hurse, Cummings and Chad Bankston are the only other coaches to take the Tornadoes to the state semifinals.
“Ultimately, I feel like my staff and I can say we’ve left it in a better place than we found it,” Tomlinson said.
Tomlinson said the numbers of wins and losses may not have been to some people’s liking, but said he believed he put the team in position to be prepared for the postseason. The Tornadoes went 11-2 in Tomlinson’s first year, advancing to the state semifinals before losing 53-13 to Raines.
“Raines was a great team,” Tomlinson said. “I felt like there was no one on the schedule to prepare us for that. It was always my goal after that to schedule tougher teams because I wanted to be able to make a run in the playoffs and have a chance.”
Bradford went 5-6 in Tomlinson’s second year, losing in the first round of the playoffs. Every season since, the Tornadoes won at least one playoff game. They went 6-6 in 2019 and this past season, going 2-1 in the 2019 playoffs and 1-1 in the 2021 playoffs. Bradford went 5-6 in 2020, going 1-1 in the postseason.
“I know the record the last few years has been around .500, and that’s probably not appealing to the casual observer,” Tomlinson said, “but we made playoff runs every year but one.”
Hartley, though, believed those playoff appearances were indicators that the future wasn’t going to be much different.
“I think five years was a really good snapshot of what you were going to get in the future,” Hartley said. “It’s kind of been getting to that same spot or somewhere short of that spot each year, but never really being able to break through.”
With the current culture of high school athletics, where student-athletes can move from one school to another, Hartley doesn’t want to waste much time in hiring a new coach.
“When we find the right person, it’ll happen pretty quickly,” he said, adding, “You really want to get somebody in who can establish themselves and start to build a relationship with the kids who are still going to be here next year. The work that’s done between now and August is what really determines the quality of what’s on the field next year.”
An early start was something Tomlinson didn’t have at BHS. He was hired after the start of spring practice in 2017 due to predecessor Corey Green resigning in April. Tomlinson was the only coach on staff at the time of his hire.
For someone tackling his first varsity football head-coaching opportunity, it was a lot of learning on the fly. However, it was an experience that will benefit him in his next job.
“I learned a tremendous amount of what to do and what not to do,” Tomlinson said. “A lot of it was trial and error, it being my first time. I feel like we did some great things. We did some not-so-great things. There were a lot of things I was happy with that we were building on every year.
“I think I’ll be able to have a jumpstart on that with the next position.”
Tomlinson, a 1993 Union County High School graduate, was a varsity assistant coach at his alma mater for nine years prior to being hired at BHS. He also served stints as assistant and head coach for the UCHS baseball team, guiding the Tigers to the 2012 state championship.
Prior to joining the UCHS football staff, Tomlinson was the Lake Butler Middle School head football coach, leading the Tigers to six straight Suwannee Middle Athletic Conference division championships and three overall SMAC championships.
Tomlinson stepped down as the UCHS head baseball coach two years after the state championship to focus on football. His goal was to become a head coach at the high school level.
Bradford gave him that opportunity. Now, he’s looking for another one.
“When I took the (BHS) job, I had people outside of Bradford — and I had people inside of Bradford, actually — tell me that I was crazy for taking the job and that I would last only a couple of years,” Tomlinson said. “To make it through year five and to accomplish everything we were able to accomplish, it makes me feel like I am able to do it. I’m not done coaching. I’ve been doing this for 22 years now. I still have the urge to coach.”
Tomlinson said the BHS program was at a “low level” when he was hired. He said he and his staff built it up and that he hopes the program’s next coach continues to build upward. Despite how things have played out, Tomlinson, like Hartley, wants to see BHS reach another level in football.
“I truly hope that the next coach is able to come in and take it higher than we were able to,” Tomlinson said.
Whoever the next coach is, Tomlinson said he’s “going to have a great group of kids who are willing to work.”
“He’s going to have some talented kids,” Tomlinson said.
Tomlinson’s tenure of five seasons was the longest for a BHS coach since Hurse coached 29 seasons. Cummings was the head coach for four seasons, but every other coach since Hurse has been in the position three years or less.
