Saul Rodriguez resigns as Atlantic football coach, Lorenzo Myers named interim for 2026

Atlantic head football coach Saul Rodriguez stepped down after one season, and offensive line coach Lorenzo Myers will take over as the interim head coach for the 2026 season, the school announced in a Facebook post on July 22.

>Rodriguez’s resignation occurred almost a week prior on July 17 in an email to Atlantic athletic director Ryan Vaughan, less than a month before the Sharks’ season kicks off on Aug. 14 against Bishop Snyder. Rodriguez listed a lack of communication between himself and Vaughan on Atlantic’s departure from the Sunshine State Athletic Association as the primary reason for stepping down, among other factors, in a phone interview with the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

>Rodriguez also left his position as Atlantic’s flag football coach after winning consecutive district championships in 2025 and 2026. He'll be exiting his position as a campus advisor at the school as well.

>“There were meetings being had about my team, and it would only make sense to have your head coach involved,” Rodriguez said. “I had talked to my athletic director in passing about it in the hallway, and then I was like, 'I need a meeting to fully understand everything.' I don’t know if it was just a miscommunication or something, and maybe (Vaughan) thought I wanted to fight the reason to go back, but those meetings never happened.”

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>The Sharks finished the 2025 football season with an 0-10 record as they attempted to rebuild in the SSAA, an endeavor that Rodriguez captained after the team went 1-8 in the FHSAA under previous coach Tombe Thomas in 2024.

>Following its inaugural year in the SSAA, Atlantic announced its return to the FHSAA as an independent, non-playoff member on June 10 in a move that surprised Rodriguez, who thought it was “still in negotiations.”

>Vaughan’s side tells a different story and that Rodriguez “had wanted a meeting, which we were in the process of setting up.”

>“He apparently wasn’t super happy about going back to the FHSAA from the SSAA, but he and I had discussed that several times, and our schedule didn’t change or anything,” Vaughan told the News-Journal. “They weren’t being put in any kind of district, so I thought we were fine there, and we made that move. Other than that, there were just some things that he, I guess, wasn’t super happy about. But I’m not sure why, because I thought we had a pretty good relationship.

>“But we wish him the best. There’s certainly no ill will on our part, and I hope he feels the same way.”

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>Rodriguez also said he was left out of meetings discussing potential additions to the Sharks’ stadium, such as a new press box and concession stand. Meetings that Rodriguez said didn’t necessarily need his input, but he would’ve liked to be a part of regardless “to hear out and get excited” about.

>“That’s something I can share with the team, but instead, I got all secondhand information from other people,” Rodriguez said.

>All of that led to his resignation.

>“It kind of came out of the blue. Saul was apparently unhappy about a few things. I didn’t think there was anything major, but he chose to step down last Friday,” Vaughan said. “That was a complete surprise. We had no idea that he was thinking of doing that.”

>Atlantic had a brief search for a new coach before ultimately choosing to stay in-house with Myers on an interim tag. If the Sharks are successful in 2026, Myers, who was just hired as the offensive line coach in December, will be the first one to have a shot at landing the permanent job after the season, Vaughan said.

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id="7172fdbdca0e461c9ae2fa5ae68f5175">"I feel excited," Myers said. "I was coming in as an assistant coach. This was actually my first year in high school. I've been (coaching youth football) for about 10-11 years, and I got my first opportunity in high school. So I appreciate Coach Saul for giving me a chance, because without him, I wouldn't be in the position that I'm in right now."

>Myers has been a staple in the Volusia County youth football community as an assistant head coach for the Tri-City Bulls, Daytona Beach Cowboys and the Volusia Tigers. But now he'll be taking a step up by taking over a high school program.

>Myers will be retaining most of Rodriguez's old staff, with the only additional departure being the Sharks' defensive line coach. The motivation for Myers accepting his position and the preservation of the current staff was the athletes, specifically the seniors, that stayed to play.

>Myers states it's been 643 days since Atlantic's last win on the gridiron.

>"By the time we kick off our first game, I don't care if it's a kickoff classic, we're trying to win that game," he said. "That's on the bulletin board. ... I want it bad for the seniors."

>This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Saul Rodriguez resigns as Atlantic football coach, Lorenzo Myers named interim for 2026