GREEN COVE SPRINGS - Apparently, Clay High's newest head football coach has been kind of scouting the Clay County football scene for quite a bit before landing about a month ago at Clay High School.
"I interviewed a while ago to be defensive coordinator with Ponte Vedra when Matt Toblin was there so I've been interested in the area for a while," said Jeff Gierke, 41, the newly named head coach for the Blue Devils with five year coach Kyle Kennard stepping away from the program. "Toblin put me in touch with the then defensive coordinator at Clay, Frank Garis, who wound up head coach at Oakleaf for a while, so, I think, my name has been around. Just a matter of timing got me to Clay."
The third prong of the names wound up being former Clay football and wrestling coach Hunter Hill, now wrestling coach at St. Johns Country Day School, after a successful stint on the Blue Devil sidelines with Reape in wresting and also defensively in football.
"My wife and Hunter Hill's wife met when she got promoted to Tennessee where they were for few years," said Gierke. "Between those relationships, I heard about Clay just about every day and had a good idea of the community and history."
One thing about Clay that got Gierke pumped to be on the sidelines was two games, specifically.
"It's the only program here that has won a state title and been a state runnerup," said Gierke. "That's a big part of the draw to play at Clay, I think, is that it once was a state championship caliber program. I want to put it back there."
Gierke recalled reading about the Clay High 73 point playoff game against Bishop Kenny that led the Blue Devils to the state runnerup finish.
For the upcoming spring football phase of preparations, Gierke is relegated to teaching middle school at Oceanway Middle School in north Jacksonville with a 45 minute drive back and forth to as many practices as he can at Clay High.
"I've been teaching at the Oceanway Middle School in the north Florida area the past year after leaving Gulf Breeze," said Gierke, married to wife Kaylee. "I think the teaching thing is kind of penance for me to see if I teach at the middle school level before moving on to high school."
Gierke, 41, whose dad Bill Gierke owns 50 years of prolific and winning football coach at Edgewater, Orlando Evans and Orangewood Christian high schools in the Orlando area with a unique 1991 5A championship tie and three runner-up finishes from 2002 to 2004, is set to bring his own brand of football to Clay High that includes a history of offense.
"I've been around Florida football all my life with my dad, Bill, 72, a Hall of Famer with like the sixth most wins in Florida," said Gierke. "I played Fleming Island when I was at ED White, I never played or coached against Clay, but just followed Florida football and knew about the program."
As for being at Clay High in the fall, Gierke likes the situation he is in because of the remaining staff at Clay.
"With coach Kennard (Clay departing coach Kyle Kennard, five years), there wasn't an immediate opening at the school for me to just shoot in and start working," said Gierke. "But, on the opposite end, I have a few former head coaches on the field with me already (Jim Reape (at Clay), Craig Nosse (at Orange Park High) that have made the transition smooth."
On the field, Gierke comes from head coaching gigs at Lyman High in Orlando, head coach at Gulf Breeze in the Florida Panhandle and a spring 2020 Tennessee state title as quarterback coach in Spring Hill Summit High.
In all of his research on the Clay High football scene, Gierke noted that, with the new interstate beltway to be finished soon, the population in the Clay High School area may bring a plethora of families that, who knows? could have very big sons.
"When that population explosion happens once all that stuff is done, Clay High should be right back in the mix of being the dominant school from the area," said Gierke. "The history of the program and a population explosion could reinvigorate the community to put their football back on the map."
In his first week on the practice field, Gierke cited returning quarterback Landon Martin as the key component to run his offense, a typically high powered attack that, at Gulf Breeze, averaged over 30 points per game in a 3-7 season.
"Landon is the type of player that a team can fall behind; he can do all the things I want in a quarterback; can throw, is a tough runner and is a leader in the huddle," said Gierke, who articulated an Air Raid concept for his offense. "We got a big, strong running back in Nehemiah Bailey that is coming back bigger, stronger and hungrier."

Around the county, coaches returned from last year's roster in the rest of the programs with some new assistant coaches on the practice fields, led by Kennard for the spring at Fleming Island and former Clay High wide receiver Ajay Belanger on the field at Orange Park High.
For Fleming Island, coach Derek Chipoletti's probable objective is to find a new quarterback with Cibastian Broughton heading to Akron, but the Golden Eagle defense looked strong with defensive ends Cohen Cioffi and Jarius Rodgers both excelling to states in weightlifting and track, respectively, with speedster Sebastian Cruz recently running a 10.6 100 meters for second in his region championship.
Middleburg also is looking for a new quarterback with Carson Stewart gone and former Oakleaf quarterback Jayven Moreno taking snaps early.


On defense, coach Ryan Wolfe is looking to add a fourth straight region playoff plus one and has defensive chasers Gabe Baker and Kadin Hanifen anchoring the defensive front with B.J. Carter gone to Iowa State. Carter's brother, Jakeyvious Carter, is a bit bigger and on the offensive line looking equally menacing.
Oakleaf looked like they were ready to play next week with the likes of Jermaine Robinson at linebacker, Fareed Coleman at running back and big Daquan Beacham on the line already wreaking havoc in practice. Oakleaf coach Chris Foy loses a lot of beef on the offensive line, but returns with equally big guys; one guy named Jason (#60) looking like 6'-8" as a tackle.