"Some coaches teach so they can coach. Jim Kroll coaches so he can teach," says Palmetto Senior High School Principal Janet Hupp about her school's head football coach.

Kroll's resume does little to dispute Hupp's assertion. Kroll graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with degrees in both Business Administration and Education and then went on to get a Masters degree in Business and Public Service from Governor's State University in Illinois.

"It always bothered me, ever since I first got into coaching, that some coaches were regarded as counterproductive members of the faculty," said Kroll. "Even though I've been asked to teach weight training here at Palmetto -- and I'm more than happy to, I've taught math, business, typing-- I've always tried to make sure that I was just as prepared for class as I was on the field. I never wanted to feel like a liability in the classroom, never wanted anyone to say he's a pretty good coach but a terrible teacher. I don't want to be seen as incompetent at anything I do," Kroll explained.

Kroll applies the same teaching methods on the field as off, demanding every ounce of effort, letting his players know when they've done something wrong and getting on them for that, but also making sure that they get congratulated when they do something right.

"Playing any sport is valuable--it helps give people a positive self-image, something that they'll keep the rest of their lives," Kroll said. "We teach the kids, 'Act the way you want to become and you will become the way you act!', and that is something they'll have with them long after they're done with football.
That attitude helps account for Kroll's tremendous success in his 33 years of coaching. He began as an assistant and was then a head coach for 13 years near where he grew up in a Chicago suburb going 42-24, winning three different Coach of the Year awards.

He moved to Miami and went to Southwest Senior High (a perennial Miami-Dade football doormat) for two years where he managed a 4-16 record. It was an improvement over their 0-40 record the previous four years but still unsatisfying for Kroll.

"That was the only time I've ever felt unsuccessful as a coach--I knew that it would be impossible to do well there," he said.

It was then Kroll went to Miami Beach Senior High to coach the Hi-tides--a job he would hold for seventeen years. His stint there was one of the most successful in Miami-Dade county history, producing a 108-61-1 record with three district championships and two runners-up.
But Kroll has lived in Kendall (near the JCC) for 22 years and was commuting all the way up to Miami Beach, a trip he eventually grew tired of.

"I was thinking that maybe I'd move back to Chicago and I'd actually resigned the job at Miami Beach when I spoke to Milly Fornel (then the principal at Palmetto Senior), who asked if I might be interested in coming here. It was so much easier than going all the way to Beach," he said. And the staff at Palmetto has continued to make his job a pleasure, he said.

"Obviously Mrs. Fornel was great to work with, but also Mrs. Hupp has continued to be tremendous help," he said. "She even held a school-wide pep rally after we beat Southridge, and that's typical of how terrific she's been. Mrs. McKinney makes my job easy; she's such a professional. Mr. Massimino and Mr. Manzelli are so supportive, and in fact the whole school has been so supportive--we couldn't have been successful without their help," Kroll said.

And Kroll has been successful in his three years at Palmetto, posting records of 7-4, 4-5, and 9-3. They were district runner-ups to Southridge his first year but this year was his most successful, maybe the best year a Palmetto team has ever had.

The Panthers won the district title outright, beating Killian and Southridge in the same year, something a Palmetto team had never done before. They even advanced to the second round of the playoffs, where they lost a very close, very winnable game to likely state champion Miami Central. But it is clear that Kroll doesn't want to take credit for their good fortune.

He singled out some of the seniors on the team -- Chris Myers, Kevin Ketchum, Marquis Peoples, Juan Quesada, Oscar Tabares, Katrell Collier, Alex Davis, Tyrell Powell, Jim Myers, Wesley Jefferson, Jerry Curry -- as being instrumental to the team's success, as well as junior Corey Kinsey.

He also said that his coaching staff was as good as any around. The offensive coaches were Rodney Hunter (O. Coordinator), Craig Karpiak (O. Line), and Keith Guthrie (Quarterbacks). The defensive coaches were Hank McInnis (D. Coordinator), Tony Fadelle (Linebackers), and C.J. Singleton (D. line).

The JV team which also won a de facto "district championship" (one isn't awarded for JV, but they went 5-0-1, beating Killian, Southridge, and other district rivals) and its coaches were outstanding, Kroll said. They included Head Coach David Soderholm, Chuck Fieldson, Scott Jackson, and Fernando Rodriguez.

"I appreciate the article, but I'm only a small part of it. The assistant coaches and players are the reasons I've had success. This particular group of kids is what made this job so much fun and why we've done so well. I would only leave a program like I had a Beach and start over if I knew we could compete with and beat Killian and Southridge, and eventually win a state title. They said that I was crazy to come here, that the athletes weren't as good and that the kids weren't mentally tough enough. We've shown that was totally wrong. These kids were committed from day one to get not only physically stronger, but emotionally tougher as well, and it was my coaches who helped get them there. I'm just a small part of this," he said.