South Plantation has hired former Piper coach Gary Moise to take over the Paladins football program, according to Moise and South Plantation athletic director Michael Collins.
“I’m excited just to join the Paladin community and the South Plantation community and see where I can be of service, serving both the community and the young men entrusted under my leadership,” Moise said.
Moise went 0-10 in his one year as the Bengals’ head coach. But he said he learned from that experience and thinks the team was starting to show signs of improvement on and off the field.
“One thing you learn from failing is it teaches you what’s important to you,” Moise said. “It helps prioritize what’s important, what’s not important. You learn when to say no about certain things. Failure in general kind of gives you a sense of reflection. For me, it’s a sense of reflection, it’s a sense of renewal, it’s a sense of redemption for me with the South Plantation situation. For me, it’s a situation of unfinished business.”
Moise takes over for Cecil McNair, who went 7-19 over three seasons with the Paladins, including a 2-4 mark in the pandemic-shortened season. South Plantation has not had a winning season since 2013, but Moise is hoping to change that.
“I believe in coaching kids and loving them harder,” Moise said. “So if we’re coaching them hard and we’re loving them harder, and we’re coaching a kid, a student — we’re coaching people and not the players — then they’ll play hard for us and the scores will take care of themselves. If we’re holding accountable to winning habits, the winning will happen.”
