After four year at the helm, Mike Sharp is stepping down as the football coach at Park Hill South.
Sharp announced the move on Dec. 21, a day after 810 Varsity tweeted out that he would be leaving the post. His tenure ended with a 2-8 mark, the same as his first season in 2015. Between that, Sharp went 10-2 in 2016, losing to Staley in the district championship game that year. In 2017, the team was 4-6.
The Panthers opened this year ranked in the Missouri Media football poll in Class 5, but losses in the first two games dropped them from the rankings. They beat St. Joseph Central in week 3, but didn’t win again until week 7 against a winless Truman squad.
He spent five years total at Park Hill South, starting in 2014 as the defensive coordinator under Mark Simcox, who retired after the season.
Citizen file photo
Park Hill South coach Mike Sharp, left, talks with officials during a game at Blue Springs South this past season.
Prior to his tenure at South, Sharp spent 10 years as an assistant at Park Hill, working under both coach Grey Reynolds and Josh Hood.
“I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to work my way up from the freshman coach at Park Hill to the head coach at Park Hill South,” Sharp wrote in a letter addressed to the paper and Dion Clisso of PrepsKc.com. “I have cherished my time as the head coach at Park Hill South. I want to thank Dr. Dale Longenecker and Mr. John Carr for the opportunity and trusting me with South’s football program. It was not a task I took lightly. I can say that I have given everything I had to the program over the last four years. My family and I have been ALL-IN. In looking at the best interest of the program, I believe it is time for a change in leadership. The players, parents, managers, boosters and fans deserve the very best.”
Sharp noted football helped him gain everything important in life, earning a college degree, moving out of East St. Louis, Ill., getting a job in Kansas City and meeting his wife Angie while at Park Hill. The two have two daughters, Ruby and Stella.
“I chose to be a coach because I felt I had to pay the game back for everything it had given me,” Sharp said.