Crystal River (Florida) hires Chris Cook as head football coach

New Pirates headman previously spent three seasons at Weeki Wachee

Chris Cook, head coach at Hamilton County the past two seasons, has been hired at Crystal River. / Photo provided by Chris Cook

A familiar face has made a return to the North Suncoast coaching ranks, making a short trip north from a recent stop in his career.

Chris Cook, the head coach at Hamilton County the past two seasons, was announced as the new Crystal River High head coach on Tuesday. The name should ring a bell locally, as Cook held the same position at Weeki Wachee from 2019-21.

“I’m excited to be there,” Cook said. “When I was at Weeki I’d play against them several times. Always really tough kids, fought hard. I’m excited to get to get with a group of kids like that. Very competitive, several really good athletes that I’ve seen on film. I’m really excited to get there.

“… When we lived there (while coaching Weeki Wachee), we lived right in Homosassa Springs. We loved the area. Culturally and that area is just a beautiful area. It fits our lifestyle. Outside of coaching, I love the area. It’s a good place to live. The initial connection was coaching at Weeki, but living there for three years we fell in love with the place.”

Cook has a career record of 15-43, including 6-22 at Weeki Wachee and 5-14 at Hamilton County. He was also head coach at Central Florida Chrisitan in 2016, with the team finishing 4-7.

Prior to coming to Weeki Wachee, he was the offensive coordinator at Moore Haven, and has also spent time as an assistant at Hardee County, his alma mater, and as a JV coach at Sebring.

“I’ve coached at some really good, successful places,” Cook said. “Moore Haven, we made it to the second and third round of the playoffs until we ran into Champagnat Catholic. We were scoring close to 40 points a game for every season we were down there and I was offensive coordinator there. Hardee County, just a great team. We ran into Plantation, we couldn’t get past them. But I’ve coached on some teams with a lot of talent, a lot of good kids that went on to play at the next level.

“And then you find yourself at places like Hamilton, where I am now, where the talent pool is not nearly as deep or diverse. But still I think we were successful here. When I took over there were 16 kids in the program. We’re running 80-85 kids now. So success comes in different forms.

“Same thing at Weeki, at Weeki I took over a program where the culture was kind of questionable. Not slighting anybody at all there, people run things in different ways. But the culture improved there. We went from high 20s, 30 kids in the program to upwards of 50 kids in the varsity program. Wins and losses aren’t always how you measure success, but I definitely feel like when you coach at places where the talent around you just seems to be so much more advanced and the tradition is stronger it certainly makes you a better coach.”

His offensive background makes him an interesting match for the Pirates, who finished 6-4 in 2024 and won their first district title since 2007 under Bill Vonada. The all-time leader in coaching victories for Hernando County, Vonada retired after one year with Crystal River, having guided a stirring turnaround from 2-7 in 2023.

Yet offense was not the specialty for the Pirates. They scored 170 points on the season and only threw for 185 yards across nine regular-season games. They did rush for 1,834 yards and 19 touchdowns, and leading rusher Sovaunn Samms who averaged 7.0 yards per carry and ran for seven touchdowns is only a junior.

Cook said he’d like to add a passing element to the Crystal River attack, and he’s also bringing with him offensive coordinator Jake Montalbano to try to help create a more balanced unit.

“I know he has the ability to tailor to whatever talent we have to be successful,” said Crystal River assistant principal Mike Einspahr, a former football coach who was part of the hiring committee that chose Cook. “We’ve got some good kids coming back with E.J. (Jenkins) and Cade (Wentworth) and Samms. Hopefully he can take and skew what they do well, and build on that.”

According to Einspahr, Cook was one of five finalists for the job, out of 20 applicants.

“He brings a lot of energy and really attacks the whole community. His willingness to jump into the community and put the student-athletes first as a student then athlete was something that stood out,” Einspahr said. “His ability to jump into a community he’s not from stood out to the committee.

“… We want to see him continue what Coach Vonada had got going. Starting with the consistency and accountability in the classroom, in the weight room and within each other is what we really want to see continue. And that will lead to the hard work, the accountability on the field, which is what got those kids where they needed to this year.”

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