Bloom leaving Franklin County for South Florida prep school

APALACHICOLA — Franklin County High School boys basketball coach Manny Bloom is heading south to direct the basketball program at one of Florida’s toniest prep schools.

Athletic Director Josh Wright announced last week that Bloom, 33, had been hired as the basketball coach at Gulliver Preparatory School, a highly regarded private high school in Pinecrest, on one of five campuses in the Coral Gables and Coconut Grove areas south of Miami.

“I feel that this is an opportunity that Coach Bloom cannot pass up, for both his career and his family,” Wright said in a news release. “We are 100 percent in support of his decision.”

Mark Schusterman, Gulliver’s athletic director, said Bloom was one of more than 60 applicants for the head coaching job.

“With his enthusiasm in his interviews, he knocked your sock off,” Schusterman said. “We were looking for someone who would excite everybody, and so many people told me ‘you’ll have an excitement in your program that you haven’t had in awhile.’ We want to stimulate that program, and excite it and that’s what we feel he’ll do.”

Bloom, who moved to Apalachicola last summer with his wife, Elizabeth, son Xachary and daughter Emily, said he decided to apply but had no expectations he would be selected.

“I thought it was a long shot to begin with, but I think I possess all the qualities they were looking for,” Bloom said. “Being in Franklin County last year helped me actually; it helped me experience something new to my career and that helped in the interview process.

“I think it was a great experience being here. All the people here were great to me and my family, I couldn’t ask for anything more. I feel bad it only lasted a year, but you never know what opportunities are going to pop up. I had the chance to work with some great kids, parents, and staff here and I can’t thank the people in the Franklin County community and school district enough for making this all possible.”

After losing standout Carlos Morris to a private school in Jacksonville before the season got under way, Bloom cobbled together an untested group of varsity players last year and took them to a 7-12 record.

“We feel Coach Bloom’s positive influence on and off the court met and exceeded the expectations of our athletic department and school district,” Wright said. “The character of our players in this program is currently at an all-time best and that is what will be expected of the new coach. Coach Bloom has brought many great ideas to this county that we will continue to utilize.”

Bloom said that while his hire date is Aug. 1, he’s already spoken with parents, scheduled team workouts and prepared for team camps this summer at Lynn University and the University of Miami. He’ll be working as a permanent substitute at Gulliver’s elementary school, which is a fulltime teaching position.

Bloom will direct a program moving up from Class 3A to Class 4A in 2011, and one whose region includes competition as far south as Key West, including Ransom Everglades and Nova Southeastern University School, Booker T. Washington and Pinecrest. Next year Gulliver’s district will feature Key West, Coral Shores in Tavernier and St. Brendan High School in Miami,

“We’re in a very tough region,” Schusterman said. “The one thing that we’re able to do is our football players all play basketball.”

The Gulliver Raiders, 18-9 last season, fell in the first round of district play, and next year will lose two graduating seniors. The K-12 school, which includes 2,300 students, 950 in the high school, sports a $26,000 annual tuition, with scholarships available for those in financial need.

Bloom’s move marks a return to South Florida, where he got his coaching start. In his senior year in college he worked as head freshman and assistant varsity basketball coach at Boca Raton High School in Palm Beach County. At age 23, in only his third season there, took over as head coach of the Class 6A program.

In 2008, Bloom moved to Greensboro, N.C., to Northwest Guilford High School, spent two years there before coming to Franklin County. During the past several years, Bloom has been active with 5 Star Basketball Camp, which took him to coaching sessions in England in August 2010 and to Australia in April 2011.

Bloom moves on from a boys basketball program that will lose six of seven varsity players, with only one returning starter, rising senior Chance Buffkin.

“We’re in a rebuilding phase in the program,” Bloom said, noting that the school, and especially the booster club, remains very supportive.

Wright said the department has begun a search for a coach to replace Bloom, “that can maintain the direction that Coach Bloom and Coach Fred Drake have been able to steer the program. Developing fundamental basketball players and competitive athletes will be a big priority for the incoming coach.” 

Bloom succeeded Drake, who posted three winning seasons at Franklin County and produced a 61-25 record, including a Final Four berth in Lakeland.