It’s official: Two-time football finalist Jamie Rodgers is back at Baker County.
Three days after his departure from Bradford, Rodgers has returned to his former school, taking over as Baker County high school football head coach for the second time. The Baker County athletic department confirmed the hiring Jan. 9 after days of rumors of his pending arrival.
“We look forward to him leading the Wildcats and the positive impact he will have on our student athletes, school and community,” the school said in its announcement to social media.
Rodgers replaces Brock Canaday, who is not returning as head coach after qualifying for the Class 3A playoffs in his one season in charge.
Rodgers, a Baker County graduate who excelled in both football and baseball at the school during the 1990s, previously led the Wildcats from 2016-18 and steered the team into the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 5A final in 2017. He compiled a 29-9 record while in Macclenny, and has qualified for postseason football in 14 consecutive seasons across two states.
In 14 years at Suwannee, Baker County and Bradford in Florida and Cook in Georgia, Rodgers holds a 120-50 record in Times-Union statistics. He won Class 5A coach of the year at Baker County in 2017.
At Bradford, he helped build some of Florida’s top-ranked defenses between 2022 and 2025, going 46-7 and reaching the FHSAA Class 2S championship game in 2023. Each of his Bradford teams allowed fewer than 100 regular season points, and his 2022 team recorded nine shutouts.
Bradford finished 11-2 this season before losing to Cocoa in the Region 2-2A championship.
Canaday, who had previously served as Baker County defensive coordinator under Rodgers and returned to the Wildcats in 2025 after two years at Dixie County, finished 4-7 with a Class 3A playoff appearance as Baker County head coach.
The Wildcat Football Booster Club signaled the coming change Jan. 7 in a statement posted to Facebook, thanking Canaday for his work with the program.
For 2026 and 2027, the FHSAA has assigned Baker County to a rare unchanged set of district rivals, alongside Suwannee, Tallahassee Godby and Wakulla.
Jamie Rodgers coaching file
2012 (Suwannee): 3-7
2013 (Suwannee): 7-3*
2014 (Suwannee): 12-2*
2015 (Suwannee): 9-3*
2016 (Baker County): 9-2*
2017 (Baker County): 13-2*
2018 (Baker County): 7-5*2019 (Cook): 4-8*
2020 (Cook): 5-5*
2021 (Cook): 5-6*
2022 (Bradford): 12-2*
2023 (Bradford): 14-1*
2024 (Bradford): 9-2*
2025 (Bradford): 11-2*
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jamie Rodgers returns to Baker County as head football coach
Reporting by Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
