Gainesville High First Round Bye

After finishing 23-2 in regular season play, the Gainesville High Hurricanes earned a first round bye in district play. The Hurricanes were led by head coach, Kelly Beckham.

Beckham’s History

Beckham has been coaching the Hurricanes for seven seasons. Within his seven year tenure, he’s managed to take his team to Lakeland three different times. Lakeland is the home of the Final Four and the State Championship. Coach Beckham also cares about his players off the court. He has been known for being charismatic and for caring for the well-being of his players, as well as focusing on getting them to extend their education.

In 2009, Beckham led his team to a Class 5A State Championship. He also won coach of the year, leading his team to a 29-3 record. The 2009 title marked the last time GHS has won a state title. However, that title was the fifth in school history. Two of those titles came in the form of back to back championships in 1999 and 2000.

The 2009 team was ranked third in the state of Florida, while also ranking highly across the nation. That team also ranked eighth in the South Region according to the National Prep Poll, and they ranked 67th in the nation according to Max Prep.

Beckham owns over 700 career wins as a head coach. However, all of those wins were not with GHS, as prior to coaching the Hurricanes he coached the Bronson Eagles.

Gainesville High Last Season

Last season the Hurricanes finished with a 25-5 record, which earned them a Class 6A District 4 title. Their season ended after they faced Pensacola High School, losing 45-39.

Beckham was named the Gainesville Sun coach of the year, despite not going as deep into the postseason as expected. The team has been hot this season and it looks like they have been playing with a chip on their shoulder. The Hurricanes started the season a little slow, but have turned things around with their defensive play, according to Beckham himself.