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Q&A with new Dixie Hollins coach Dale Caparaso

 
Dixie Hollins football coach Dale Caparaso (Rodney Page, Times)
Dixie Hollins football coach Dale Caparaso (Rodney Page, Times)
Published May 10, 2017

ST. PETERSBURG — Dale Caparaso, 60, is proof that you are never too old for a new challenge. And Caparaso has accepted a big challenge. He is the new football coach at Dixie Hollins. The Rebels were 2-7 last season and over the past five years have gone a combined 6-43. Caparaso has coached 38 years, the past 15 in Florida. He has made stops at Pasco and most recently Spoto before making the switch to Pinellas County. During practice this week, ahead of the spring game Saturday against Bradenton St. Stephen's, Caparaso talked about his new job, wife Anne's tutoring program and being in Pinellas County.

It looks like you have a good turn out this spring.

"When we started we had 74. Then kids learned real quick that I do things a little different than they are used to, so many opted to not be part of it. Then when we really started we had 56 but I had to get rid of a few because of little stuff. My 2:30 is not their 2:30. And we had some academic issues."

Is Anne going to tutor here like she did at Spoto?

"She has already started. She's been doing it nine weeks now. It's a little more difficult for her to get here so we have to be more creative. Usually at Spoto she did it right after school. Here, she gets here during practice and then does (tutoring) after practice. When I'm in coaches meetings, she is with the kids. We have kids with 3.2 grade-point averages who are going to see her. Right out of the blocks we have kids who realize that they have somebody who cares. And, obviously, the kids who don't have the 2.0s, we make it mandatory for them. But she'll come in on Saturdays and do it. She'll do it all summer."

So you still live in Hillsborough and commute to Dixie every day?

"We'll eventually move out here. We live in Apollo Beach right now. It's a beautiful condo on the water with our own dock and boat lift. But we'll get a place here on the water with a boat lift and dock. We've always wanted to do the intercoastal boating. So that's in the long-range plans, a couple years from now. I have always wanted to be in Pinellas. When we left Valrico three years ago when I was still at Spoto we wanted to move here anyway. I was going to make the long trip in the other direction."

How is the team looking?

"These kids have worked really, really hard. Probably harder than any group I've had since I've been in Florida. We don't have the speed I was used to at Pasco or Spoto, but we do have some pretty big kids that I didn't have at those places. We're a little different. I'm thinking maybe we're not an outside team like we were at Spoto, where we ran around the edge. Here, we'll probably be that eight- or nine-play drive team. I think that will help our defense. By eating up some clock it will help our defense. And don't get me wrong, we have some kids who are fast, we just don't have as many.

"And it's nice to be able to let coaches coach. Kevin (Harris) is a really good offensive mind that is nice to have. With (former Gaither head coach) Jason (Stokes) coordinating our defense, I just let him go. I don't say 10 words to him. Everything I go through as a head coach, he knows. He'll be hirable at some point but right now it's a little too early (he resigned at Gaither after an investigation into the use of ineligible players). I've told him, he's a rent-a-coach. I told him the most I'm going to get him for is two years. But with Kevin running the offense and Jason running the defense, I asked them if I could be the special teams coach."

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So you like this new head coaching role so far?

"Under the current scenario I could see myself doing this another eight years. Practice is easy. There guys come in and tell me what the game plan is going to be. As an old guy, I'm smart enough to realize that I should just keep my mouth shut and let them do what they do."

Did you know anything about Dixie Hollins and it's football history before you got here?

"The only thing I knew about Dixie prior to coming here is that we played them twice at Spoto. One of the years we played them we had (receiver) Geronimo (Allison). We were pretty good. And then the previous year we were good also. We beat them pretty solidly both years. That's all I knew. I do remember telling one of my assistants that this might be the toughest, most physical team we've played, we just have more athletes. They were tough. They'll knock your head off.

When I came here, the first day we were getting ready for 7-on-7 and I told them to get into Cover 2. They didn't know what Cover 2 was. I called my wife and said maybe I need to call (principal Robert) Florio and renege on this. It was one of those laughable moments. But it's okay. We don't have to unteach something and then teach it our way. It's a clean slate."

Optimistic though?

"I think we're going to be okay. I'd like to see some more depth, and maybe that will come if we do well this week. Maybe we'll get about a half-dozen or eight kids in the school who aren't playing right now. Maybe we'll get some kids who transferred to transfer back here. Our biggest goal is to get our kids to the point where Dixie is where they want to be and they don't transfer out to other schools. Especially in this county. Kids go wherever the heck they want to go."

Are you getting initiated to the rivalries in the county?

"I remember we were playing against Pinellas Park in a 7-on-7 game (in the spring) and the kids are all jacked up like it's the Super Bowl. I'm like, really? I know (Pinellas Park coach) Kenny (Crawford) really well. I'm a wing-T guy, he's a wing-T guy. When I got the Dixie job he was one of the first to congratulate me. He's a friend. But the other coaches were saying when we line up against Pinellas Park in anything, I don't care if it's Tiddlywinks, it matters who wins."

You've got St. Stephen's on Saturday …

"I really didn't want to play them because they are pretty good (11-1 a year ago). They would be a middle-of-the-pack team in this county and Hillsborough County. They have a quarterback (Fred Billy) who is an SEC-type player. He chucks it around and boy, can he run. But because I got here so late, it was either them or play a team on the East Coast. I really didn't want to go to the East Coast for a spring game."