Updated: Mike Thornton named head football coach at Riverview

Posted Jan 20, 2012 by Bill Ward

Updated Jan 20, 2012 at 04:17 PM

Mike Thornton, the head coach the past three seasons at Fort Myers Cypress Lake High and a former assistant coach at East Bay under his father, Brian Thornton, has been named the new head football coach at Riverview, Sharks principal Bob Heilman told the Tampa Tribune on Friday morning.

Thornton beat out about 25 other applicants, about nine of whom were local coaches, Heilman said.

Heilman said the primary criteria he was looking for in the position was teaching qualifications, experience and someone with roots in the area.

“As a principal, I’m looking for who will serve my school best as a teacher of our students and, for the kids who will be playing football, of our student-athletes,” Heilman said. “I think it was also important to have someone who has been a head coach before, someone who knows the demands of the job and the rules backward and forward. And, obviously, with his family’s coaching background (both Thornton’s father and grandfather were prep football coaches), he has deep roots in the game and is someone who is going to be here for the longterm.”

Thornton played his high school football at East Bay and attended the University of Florida. He replaces Bruce Gifford, who went 5-24 as coach the past three seasons. Last year, the Sharks went 0-10.

At Cypress Lake, Thornton’s squad went 4-5-1 last fall, improving on its mark of 1-9 from the 2010 campaign. In his first season at Cypress Lake, Thornton’s team 4-6.