Bucs Honor LePain with Coach of the Year

The New Year is getting off to a great start for 's Head Football Coach, Matt LePain.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers honored LePain with the "Coach of the Year" award. LePain received the award in December when school was out for the winter holiday.

"I was pretty shocked the day I got the call," he told Palm Harbor Patch. 

2011 was a history-making year for the PHUH Hurricanes. It was the first season that LePain served as head coach for the football team and he wound up leading the Hurricanes to their first ever playoff appearance in 15 years.

The feat helped LePain earn the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 2011 High School Coach of the Year award.  The Bucs treated LePain like a big shot during a recent home game. Buccaneers General Manager, Mark Dominik greeted LePain on the sidelines before the start of the Dec. 17 game against the Dallas Cowboys at Raymond James Stadium. 

"I had a blast," LePain said. "Being able to hang out on the sidelines was cool." The prime vantage point on the sidelines also allowed LePain to get a close look at Bucs players as they went through their pre-game drills, giving him some coaching ideas. "I thought to myself, 'I'm gonna do that drill when I get back'," he said.

The Bucs also gave LePain five tickets to the Bucs-Cowboys game. LePain and his wife, mother, daughter and one of her friends got to watch the game from great seats in the end zone.

Buccaneers General Manager, Mark Dominik presented LePain with a certificate signed by himself, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Buccaneers Head Coach, Raheem Morris.

LePain said after students returned to school from the winter break, he made sure to thank the team for their hard work during the season, "You all did this," he told them. LePain also said a lot of credit should go to his staff, who works very hard behind the scenes, "My staff is amazing."

LePain is already looking ahead to next year and says he and the players will work hard for another great season. 

However, there is one change that LePain plans to make off the field. The coach says he and the team will spend more time giving back to the community. LePain says he's noticed that the most successful football teams are the ones that are tight knit and do things together off the field.

He says the team got off to a great start helping with community projects last year. 15 of the players went to Pinellas Hope and painted some of the structures that the homeless stay in. Eight players helped UPARC with the organization's tree festival.

LePain said the players really liked hanging out and participating in these projects as a team. He was pleasantly surprised at the team's enthusiasm for volunteering together, especially at what one freshman player told him, "Coach, this was really cool."

Which no doubt, is also a great way to sum up the team's season.