Osceola's Rolson to take over as Rams' football coach

Jeff Rolson of Osceola High School will succeed Greg Rivers as the head football coach at Rutherford, Athletic Director Kirk Harrell confirmed on Wednesday.

Rolson will be officially introduced as the Rams’ coach on Friday at 10 a.m. and will start on staff at the school April 1. He was the top candidate chosen from nine finalists and accepted the job last week.

Rutherford announced the new hire on Tuesday via press release. Harrell said the aim was not to keep the name secret, but he wanted time to contact other finalists. The Orlando Sentinel reported on Tuesday that Rolson had resigned and will take over at Rutherford.

Rolson spent four seasons as head coach at Osceola and rebuilt the program into state title contention. Osceola was 5-14 in the two seasons before Rolson arrived. Since then, the Kowboys made the postseason in all four of his seasons and played in the 2007 Class 5A state championship game before falling to Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas.

Rivers will retire at the end of this school year after more than three decades at Rutherford. Rivers was head coach for five seasons, with winning campaigns in his final two years at the helm.