In May 2019, the eight public high schools within Hernando and Citrus counties formed a partnership to help deal with scheduling issues.
Less than a year later, the Gulf Coast 8 conference proved invaluable to helping those schools get through a pandemic.
But last week, that partnership officially dissolved, as the Citrus County School District announced its three schools, Citrus, Crystal River and Lecanto, will no longer be a part of the conference.
“After much discussion, thoughtful consideration, and multiple meetings with high school principals, athletic directors, coaches, and district staff, Citrus County Schools has decided to leave the GC8 conference at the end of the 2024-2025 school year,” began an email released by the Citrus school district late Friday afternoon.
The decision would seem to effectively terminate the conference after six school years. All-conference teams will still be released for the current winter and spring sports seasons.
“We as a group of ADs (athletic directors) were a little caught off-guard and a little hurt to be honest,” Hernando County School District athletic director Dustin Kupcik said. “We knew that there were things that the conference needed to improve upon, it wasn’t perfect. But we all felt like there were more pros than cons for both parties.
“… We felt like anything that had ever come up over the years from any AD or any county, we’d addressed them and come up with different ways to tweak or improve or change. We were, like I said, a little caught off-guard and a little hurt because we weren’t afforded the opportunity to speak with them about it. It was kind of just something they did on their own.”
Kupcik, who was the athletic director at Springstead in 2019, noted that it was the Citrus County ADs who first approached their Hernando County counterparts about the conference, spearheaded by then-Lecanto AD Ron Allan.
At the time, the FHSAA had made changes to its scheduling procedures, no longer requiring teams to schedule district games or matches, which had been previously used to determine seeding for district tournaments.
Now, the FHSAA uses a ranking system for seeding to better factor in overall strength of schedule. That encouraged teams to seek out stiffer competition in metro areas, leaving schools from more rural counties struggling to find opponents. The GC8 would provide programs in Hernando and Citrus counties with at least a guaranteed seven games and also give local athletes a chance for added recognition through all-conference teams.
“It’s the best of the best in our two counties. No offense to Citrus, but it’s like you’re the best in Citrus County you’re better than two other people? It doesn’t hold a ton of weight,” Kupcik said. “We just felt like it brought some legitimacy to those recognitions, but also more opportunities to recognize our student-athletes.
“And then the other piece to it, too, was hey, not all our schools, for one reason or the other, have a legitimate opportunity to win a district title. But the majority of them had an opportunity to compete for a GC8 title. That meant something to kids. So it’s disappointing for the kids ultimately. I kind of feel like it’s adults ruining things for the kids.”
What those schools didn’t know in 2019 when the conference formed was how valuable a tool it would become for the 2020-21 school year.
“We wouldn’t have survived COVID without the Gulf Coast 8 conference, both counties,” Kupcik said. “That’s how we made it work. That’s how we pitched it to the higher-ups. We became really close. Larry (Bishop, then the Citrus High AD), Bobby (Verlato, then the Crystal River AD) and Ron, and then all of us down here, we became really close. We were talking on a daily, weekly basis trying to figure out how to navigate that mess and work together, and be innovative and try to pull stuff out of the hat because it was so new for everybody and scary for everybody. But ultimately, we knew we wanted to get our kids back playing.
“It was a good partnership, it really was. Like any partnerships, there’s always ups and downs, you’d like to think you could work through them. But apparently, they didn’t feel that way.”
All three Citrus County schools have new athletic directors since the creation of the GC8. Verlato is now Kupcik’s counterpart serving as athletic and activities director for that county. Allan left Lecanto after the 2021-22 school year and moved to Kansas. Bishop stepped down after last school year.
According to Citrus County schools director of special academic programs Darrick Buettner, a former coach who oversees athletics for the district, the county’s athletic directors had expressed a desire to leave the GC8 roughly a year ago. In August, he said he asked Verlato to speak with Kupcik about the situation and again in January.
During a meeting of Citrus County principals and athletic directors last month, Buettner said it was unanimous that they pull out of the conference in order to provide more scheduling flexibility.
“Personally, I’m very thankful for all camaraderie we’ve had with Hernando and all the wonderful schools they have and all the hard work,” Buettner said. “In terms of what’s changed, the information I get from the ADs and principals is that they felt that the landscape of high school athletics has changed quite a bit in the last 2-3-4 years, with how schools are ranked, with how they get onto postseason, with the other opportunities that exist.
“In COVID, it was absolutely phenomenal. We’ve kind of moved past COVID. The athletic playing field and the concept of sports, as we see in Florida, has evolved. So the ADs and principals decided they would want that flexibility and that was honored.”
As for Kupcik’s comments about a lack of communication, Buettner expressed remorse and still would like to see the two counties work together in the future.
“To me, the value of relationships is very important,” Buettner said. “If anyone is to blame for any hurt feelings, I think the responsibility lies on me. Maybe I should have taken an extra step to make a phone call. I had thought we were communicating very well with Hernando. I didn’t realize they didn’t feel or knew that this was happening the way it was. Again, that responsibility is mine. I would apologize to them for that miscommunication.”
