Nease Football head coach Howard leaves High School

Yesterday, Nease High School football coach Craig Howard resigned as the team's head coach, and will now be hired as Columbia High School's head football coach. The move came after former Columbia head coach Danny Green was fired in December and the building of a new high school near Nease. Said Howard, "I'm excited for the opportunity to build this program even further," Howard said. " Danny Green has done a great job there in that the school was a contender almost every year to compete in the playoffs. It was a hard, bittersweet decision that I had to make. We've had five wonderful years here in Ponte Vedra with the Nease program. But they're building new schools here, and it's hard to find that one school that the whole community can rally around and support. You have that at Columbia, where everyone wants to support the Tigers."

During Howard's 5 years at Nease, he complied a 56-12 record, 3 straight years in the 4A State Championship game, and one of them a 4A State Championship game victory in 2005 against Armwood High School.

Nease and Columbia are in the same district and play each other at least once each year. This past year, Nease beat Columbia during the season and in the playoffs, posting shutouts both times. This will now develop into a huge rivalry.