Monroe County’s three high school football programs share more than geography. Each is led by a Miami-born coach who made his way south to the Keys, and each has a player on the roster who calls his head coach something other than Coach: Dad.
In Tavernier, head coach Ed Holly is no stranger to coaching another Holly. Billy, now a junior, is the third of his sons to progress through the Hurricanes’ program, following two older brothers who went on to play college football. Despite the expectations that might accompany such a family legacy, the youngest Holly takes it all in stride.
“I try to do my best at all times,” Billy said, explaining that having his father as his coach doesn’t add any extra pressure.
Key West’s Johnny Hughes also knows a thing or two about coaching his own children. Freshman Luke is the fourth Hughes son to wear a Conchs jersey, continuing a family football tradition that has extended to the collegiate level.
Like Billy, Luke has learned to put any potential pressure aside once he takes the field.
“When I play I push that stuff to the side,” Luke told the Weekly. “I will think of the whole team as my family, not just him.”
In Marathon, head coach Sean McDonald is getting another opportunity to coach one of his own. His older son played for him from the pee wee ranks through high school before continuing his football career at the collegiate level. Now it’s freshman Maverick’s turn to suit up for Dad.
And like his counterparts at Coral Shores and Key West, Maverick isn’t particularly concerned about the added pressure.
“No, in the game I just forget all that and focus on the game,” he said.
Father knows best, or so the saying goes. But when Dad is also the head coach, that theory occasionally gets tested.
Key West head coach Johnny Hughes says Luke rarely questions his decisions on the field, but he recalls one occasion when his late son, Garrett, then the Conchs’ quarterback, appeared to have serious doubts about Dad’s play-calling.
Hughes sent a play into the huddle, only to see Garrett peek out and throw up his arms in confusion. Hughes shouted for him to run the play, but Garrett repeated the gesture. After another emphatic order from the sideline, Garrett reluctantly complied.
The play went nowhere.
When Hughes demanded to know what had happened, Garrett had a simple response: “That’s what I was asking you.”
As it turned out, the player delivering the call had relayed a play that wasn’t even in the Conchs’ playbook.
Hughes learned his lesson. It was the last time he sent a play into the huddle through another player.
At Marathon, Sean McDonald acknowledges that his sons inherited their father’s hard-headed streak. His youngest, Maverick, isn’t afraid to offer an opinion on the Dolphins’ offensive strategy.
Asked about the funniest football disagreement between the two, McDonald had a quick answer: “Him telling me we need to run the spread offense!”
It’s a suggestion that might earn a chuckle from anyone familiar with Marathon’s ground-heavy attack. Often facing opponents with advantages in size and speed, the Dolphins have built their offense around toughness, discipline and a willingness to grind out yards on the ground. A wide-open spread offense might appeal to the players, but for McDonald, Marathon’s personnel and circumstances have long favored a more deliberate, ground-oriented approach.
It seems Maverick may be coming around to his father’s way of thinking. Despite his previous campaign for the spread offense, when asked what he admires most about his dad as a coach, Maverick pointed to his unwavering commitment to the single wing. Whether that’s a change of heart or simply an appreciation for his father’s stubbornness is anyone’s guess.
One might imagine that having Dad as head coach makes for an all-football, all-the-time household, but that’s not necessarily the case.
For the Hollys, faith and family take precedence over football. Both father and son agree that the game stays on the field, drawing a firm line between their football lives and their time together at home. The McDonalds and Hugheses also try to maintain that separation, though both fathers acknowledge that lessons from the gridiron sometimes find their way home.
For Luke Hughes, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“I love that football is never just on the field, it is also at home; anytime he sees me struggling he sees that and talks to me about it at home so I will be better tomorrow,” Luke said.
Coaching multiple sons has also shown the fathers that sharing a last name doesn’t necessarily mean sharing a personality.
McDonald admits both sons are strong-willed, but describes his older son as a more vocal leader. Maverick, by contrast, tends to lead by example, letting his actions speak for him. Some of that may come with being a freshman, but the two brothers also have distinctly different personalities.
Experience has changed how McDonald approaches coaching his sons, too. The intensity he brought to coaching his older son has given way to a wider perspective now that Maverick is wearing a Dolphins uniform.
“With my first son I was more focused on each game as being the most important game ever,” he said. “Now I understand that it is a long process, and if you do everything right everything else will take care of itself.”
Key West’s Johnny Hughes has also found that experience changes a father’s perspective. Early in his coaching career, one of the greatest challenges was “hearing the outside criticism of his performance simply because he is the coach’s son,” Hughes said.
“These days, there is no hard part.”
At Coral Shores, Ed Holly has learned another lesson from coaching his children: Four years go by in a hurry.
His older sons, Johnny and Eddie, each spent four seasons playing for him before continuing their football careers at the collegiate level. Now coaching Billy, Holly is enjoying the opportunity to share those experiences again, knowing just how quickly the seasons pass.
“I am so proud of their accomplishments, but I miss the ability to spend time with them,” Holly said. “I am having fun coaching Billy and watching him grow into a great teammate and competitor.”
While the sons have spent years learning from their fathers, the lessons haven’t all traveled in one direction.
Asked what coaching their own children has taught them, Holly and McDonald arrived at the same answer: patience.
Key West’s Johnny Hughes offered a different perspective, explaining that coaching his sons reinforced the importance of recognizing how differently young athletes learn.
“If you want to be a successful coach and get the most out of your team, you need to be able to teach using several different methods so you can reach all your players,” Hughes said.
Ultimately, the greatest reward for these fathers may have little to do with wins and losses. It’s the time spent together and the memories that will remain long after the final whistle.
“The time together is great,” McDonald said. “Having so many shared experiences trying to achieve a goal is great. After football is over we will always have that common ground.”
