Coach in Cottage C

By  Rosemary Ryan Imregi and J.R. Minard

Inspired by 1961 events in the life of Florida State University quarterback Victor C. Prinzi during his time at the Florida School for Boys (now known as the Dozier School for Boys), Imregi and Minard’s Coach in Cottage C dramatizes how institutional life burns inside the minds and souls of faculty and boys alike.

On a crisp February morning in 1961, twenty-five-year-old Matt Grazi faces the most unwanted change of his life. His pro-ball career over, he stands as coach across the field from a platoon of teenage delinquents at Colby Hill School for Boys (CHB) in the northern panhandle of Florida. Matt understands a successful coaching season is his chance to remain in the football world, and his opportunity to give value to his years spent on the field.
Not one to back away from a challenge, he gears up to communicate with the teens at the Florida reform school only to find CHB is riddled with complications.
Harry Beauregard, Bo, is a superb athlete and boxer, and could be a physical asset to the team, but is defiant and has his own set of rules. With a personal vengeance, Matt mentors Bo and uses sports to develop a new sense of awareness and pride. He struggles to recruit every boy who wants to play, and fights to bring the boys together as a team.
Amid gross and unjust brutalities at one of the largest juvenile justice facilities in the nation, Matt and Bo share a journey that transforms their lives. In this place of injustice, frustration, anger, and sadness, they cultivate a relationship similar to that of a father and son.