By: J. Daniel Pearson
Nova Lakes, Osceola County’s ninth public high school scheduled to open next fall, is already making huge splash in athletics – hiring Jeremy Blunt as the school’s first football coach.
Blunt comes to Nova Lakes from Phoebus High School (Hampton, Va.), where he was an assistant coach from 2009-11 and head coach from 2012 through the 2025 season. During that time, he put up spectacular numbers.
“We’re extremely pleased to welcome Jeremy as the first head coach of Nova Lakes,” Athletics Director Jack Waters said. “When we got his application and met with him, his qualifications as a winning coach were obvious, but his talk about commitment and wanting to build something in the community is what really stood out. We’re feel extremely fortunate to have him,”
As a head coach, his overall record was 153-23 and included 10 district championships, eight regional titles, five trips to the state championship games and four consecutive state titles from 2021-24.
During the run of state championships, Phoebus won 51 consecutive games under Blunt – just one short of the Virginia High School State record. Those numbers become more impressive when the Phoebus schedule is taken into consideration. Blunt was never afraid to schedule out-of-district games against Virginia’s best during the season – facing state powers DeMatha, Oscar Smith and Highland Springs on a regular basis.
Blunt, who spent his life in the Hampton, Va. area, graduated from Phoebus High (2002) and Hampton University (2008). He said stepping down from Phoebus was the hardest decision of his life. “I have a brother who lives in the Central Florida and we have visited down here numerous times and love the area,” Blunt said. “But it was extremely difficult to leave Phoebus. It’s a decision I struggled to make, not just because of the success we had in football, but because of the young men in the program, the parents, my assistants, the school administration and the community that we are leaving. In all my years there, they were nothing but loving and supportive of my family and me.”
Still. Blunt said that he never felt staying at Phoebus for his entire career was an “end all, be all” situation from him. “I have always liked challenges and knew I wanted to eventually move on.” He just didn’t know whether it would be at a high school or college –where he had offers over the years.
Blunt will be stepping into a whole new world, as he leaves a powerhouse program that has won state championships as a player, assistant coach and head coach to a school that has never played a game.
He will start a program that will not have a senior class in his first year and will play as an independent in both 2026 and 2027, Blunt says that the opportunity to build a program from scratch in Central Florida area was “too appealing to turn down.”
“The area has some great football players and coaches,” Blunt said. “I did some research and know about Osceola High and the great success they have had. We’re going to hit the ground running, work hard and look forward to competing with all the area’s best in a few years.”
Positively Osceola will be out across the community throughout the upcoming fall football season, bringing our viewers the action, the stories, and the moments that matter most from kickoff to the final whistle—and this year, that coverage will include the Nova Lakes High School Rattlers and their new head coach, Jeremy Blunt.
