JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Union County’s Ronny Pruitt abruptly resigned from his roles as head football coach and athletic director just eight days before the season opens.
Defensive coordinator Kepa Sarduy was elevated to head coach and athletic director. It will be his second head coaching job following three seasons at Newberry.
Today our HC Ronny Pruitt has decided to retire/resign from his position at Union County. We are greatly appreciative of everything that he has done for our school, program & community. DC Kepa Sarduy has been promoted as the new head coach and athletic director of UCHS! pic.twitter.com/zMjwhCyzRM
— Union Co. Football (@UCH_Football) August 15, 2019
“He’s definitely been mentoring me,” Sarduy said. “Coach Pruitt allowed me to coach the way I wanted to. The big change? Instead of being the second guy to talk, I’ll be the first guy to talk. There’s a great staff Coach Pruitt put together. We all bond together and we’ll go out and coach our best.”
Pruitt was entering his 10th season as the Tigers’ head coach. He was 72-28 with the Tigers, and 97-46 overall. Pruitt did not return a message seeking comment. Sarduy said that he could not comment on the reason for that Pruitt stepped down. And a late-afternoon message to the school district had not been returned.
Pruitt survived a significant health scare in 2016 after contracting a strain of the H1N1 virus during a trip to the Bahamas. The complications from that nearly killed him. But Pruitt returned in the fall of 2016. He led the Tigers to the state playoffs in each of the last two seasons.