LARGO — Marcus Paschal is out as Largo High School’s football coach after 13 seasons.
Paschal confirmed the dismissal Nov. 12. He said principal Jennifer Staten told him the school was going in a different direction.
Suncoast Preps first reported the change on Facebook. A Largo assistant coach said the staff was told that morning.
The fallout started fast.
Matt Stouble, the father of Largo freshman quarterback Braylon Strouble, said on Facebook that the coaching staff was the only reason his family was at Largo. With Paschal gone, he wrote, his son is now a “free agent.”
Paschal’s best stretch came in 2022 and 2023, when the Packers went 9-3 both seasons.
This fall was rockier. Largo went 6-4 and finished third in Class 5A-8 at 2-2. The Packers missed the playoffs.
They beat East Lake 20-8 on Oct. 9, lost 49-21 at Mitchell a week later and closed with a 46-15 win over Osceola on Oct. 30.
The season also brought an unwanted first. Largo did not open its concession stand for the East Lake game. In Paschal’s 13 seasons, that had never happened. There weren’t enough volunteers to staff it.
A new district rule is part of the reason. Since Jan. 1, Pinellas County Schools has required new volunteers to pass a Level 2 background screening, which includes fingerprinting. Current volunteers had until the end of June to get screened. Each screening costs $75 to $90, and volunteers generally pay for it themselves.
For booster programs that rely on parents to run the grill and sell sodas, that cost is one more hurdle.
Paschal, 42, graduated from Largo in 2002. He played safety at Iowa and made second-team All-Big Ten in 2006. He went undrafted, signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2007 and later had stints with the Atlanta Falcons, Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens.
He came home as an assistant and in 2014 replaced Rich Rodriguez as coach. The program became a family affair. Paschal coached his sons Myles and Maison, his daughter Mikayla, his brother Bari William and his nephew Andrew Paschal Jr. Myles, a sophomore defensive back, and Andrew, a junior linebacker, were on this year’s roster.
Last season, Largo went 6-5 and reached the playoffs before losing 35-7 to West Boca Raton.
His work off the field drew notice too. In 2024 the city of Largo named him its Black History Month honoree.
Largo will now search for its first new head coach since 2014.