PAHOKEE– The Pahokee Blue Devils football program will be searching for a head coach ahead of their 2021 season.

Blue Devils coach D.J. Boldin announced on Feb. 4 that he had accepted an offer to coach football at the college level next season.

“First off I want to say thank you to Pahokee Middle/High School for giving me the opportunity to coach at my Alma Mater and to the kids of Pahokee for believing in me,” said Boldin in a post on his social media. The journey continues and I am so thankful to coach Reilly Murphy for this opportunity to coach the wide receivers at Lake Erie College.”

Boldin was hired in early 2019 and during his first year helped guide the Blue Devils to the state championship where they lost a heart breaker to Madison County.

That season was captured in an eight-part docu-series titled “4th and Forever: Muck City” on Curiositystream.

The documentary followed first-year Pahokee coach Boldin as he attempted to turn around a struggling Blue Devils program as well as longtime Glades Central coach Jessie Hester as tried to guide the Raiders back to another state championship. After a rough start and overcoming internal drama, Boldin and his Blue Devils went on a run late in the season. Pahokee would go on to win the Muck Bowl in dramatic fashion.

“The victory against Glades Central was very gratifying to me,” said Boldin after that Muck Bowl win in 2019. “I think it puts a huge first stamp on my coaching tenure at Pahokee High School. Despite all the adversity we have faced this season, it was really good to see my kids continue to fight week in and week out. We are finally starting to get the outcome of games that we deserve. Muck Bowl was just a battle, a clash of two giants and I’m glad that we came out of it victorious.”

Pahokee defensive coordinator Emmanuel Hendrix has been named interim head coach while the school searches for a new coach. Boldin recommended Hendrix as his choice for job to Pahokee principal Dwayne Dennard