Miami Northwestern Football Coach Billy Rolle Resigns
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami's Northwestern High School is searching for a new football coach. Billy Rolle has resigned from his position as head football coach.
The school's athletic director Hector Gray said Rolle will remain at the school as a teacher but wanted to hold a bigger position.
"He wanted to go higher up in the administration and someday maybe become an athletics director," said Gray. "To be a head coach takes a lot and to be an athletic director takes even more and for him to take time out to learn those skills and hone them it's a lot to do."
It's a significant loss to the school. Rolle has been one of the most successful high school football coaches in South Florida during the last 20 years.
"Billy had a great legacy here. (He) had two state championships here and at Killian High School. He's a great asset to the school," said Gray."
Rolle's decision to resign comes after the team missed the playoffs for the first time in two decades. It also follows a controversy last November when the principal fired Rolle and then rehired him. Gray insists Rolle was not pushed out.
Rolle did not return CBS 4 News's calls for comment. Administrators outside of the school Friday afternoon stopped students from talking to CBS 4 News about the issue. Some students said they had been threatened with suspension if they spoke out.
A search for Rolle's replacement is already underway. "Whenever you lose a great man like Billy it's gonna hurt," said Gray. "But we got a nationwide search out. I've been getting emails today from different parts of the country."
Northwestern went 7-3 this season, and failed to make the playoffs after losing two crucial district games to Central and Belen.
Rolle, the only coach in Dade to win state championships at two different schools, led the Bulls to state championships in 1998 during his first stint as coach, and in 2007 upon his return. That season, Northwestern was voted national champions.
Rolle also led Killian to a state championship in 2004.
