- Ashour Peera was named the new head football coach at Gainesville High School for the 2026 season, replacing Ian Scott who stepped down in May.
- Peera has four years’ experience as UF’s Director of Football Logistics and has coached at both college and high school levels.
On Thursday afternoon, Gainesville High School introduced Ashour Peera as its new head football coach for the 2026 season.
“First and foremost, I want to thank God, my family, the GHS administration and everyone who has supported me throughout my coaching journey,” Peera said in a statement to GHS. “I’m truly honored and excited to accept the opportunity to become the next head football coach at Gainesville High School.”
Peera, who served as UF’s Director of Football Logistics for four years under former Gators coach Billy Napier, has coached both at the collegiate (Florida, Louisiana, Central Arkansas and Northwestern Oklahoma State University) and high school level.
“We are excited to have Coach Peera as our new head football coach,” said GHS Athletics Director Phillip Knight. “His experience, combined with his vision for our program, convinced us that he was the right man for the job. We are looking forward to working with him and helping him put his vision in place to help our student athletes succeed.”
Peera takes over for former Gator Ian Scott, who stepped down as the Hurricanes’ head coach in May.
The GHS alum, who played football and basketball for the Hurricanes, finished with an 8-22 record in three seasons.
In a phone interview with Peera on Thursday afternoon, the Chicago native said he was actually going to take a year off and try to decide what he wanted to do before the position became available.
“I spent the last decade coaching college ball, and I missed the high school atmosphere,” Peera said. “It was just different relationships. During the day, you’re a player’s teacher, you’re their coach, you’re like their parent. We had great relationships in college, but it’s just different.”
There were a several factors that sparked Peera’s interest.
“One, it was close to home where we were living, and two, I had taken over a program previously that lost their coach over the summer, and I knew it was a difficult transition, so I felt for the kids…that’s kind of my model. I look for those type of programs where I can come in and help when they’re down.”
Peera said another big part of his decision was the administration, starting with Coach Knight and GHS principal Dr. Elizabeth Leclear.
“She was the difference,” he said. “Just how she operates a school. I think Gainesville High School is in for a great experience coming up here in the next couple of years.”
He also felt like the culture was already great at GHS under Scott.
“I’ve known him for years and he’s done a great job,” Peera said. “I think they just need a little change and maybe a change of direction.”
This will be Peera’s first head coaching job in Florida in over a decade after spending nine years working at the collegiate level. He previously served as the head football coach at East Ridge High School (Clermont) from 2014-2017.
He also has had assistant coaching stops in the Sunshine State at Miami Northwestern, South Lake (Groveland), Forest (Ocala) and Vanguard (Ocala).
Peera said one of the biggest challenges is taking over a football program whose spring practice has ended.
“Yeah, it’s definitely a concern,” he said. “I compare it to a doctor walking into surgery and the body is cut open and they tell him, ‘Hey, here fix it,’ and you don’t know what’s wrong. You’ve got to figure it out. Luckily I’ve gone through this a number of times before and it’s usually the same patterns and I think these guys just need to develop systems, and unfortunately those systems don’t come over night.”
He said you have to develop the team throughout the year, and that includes not only the regular season but an offseason together.
“We’re taking the approach, really not concerned with what’s going to be on the scoreboard, we’re just taking it a quarter at a time,” Peera said. “We have 10 regular season games so we’re focusing on 40 different quarters, and we’re just going to work one quarter at a time.”
Peera said he will speak to all of his players in their first official meeting on Monday, and also focus on putting together a staff.
“I’ve briefly met with some of the players…and I’ve already communicated with the assistant coaches,” he said. “I really want to be able to reach out and welcome all of the coaches that were on staff to see if they’re interested in returning. I’m going to interview all of them…I’m not going to deny anyone the opportunity to return because I know what they had to go through and it was a tough time for them and they held on and kept working with these kids.”
He said he would like to hire both an offensive and defensive coordinator, but he is able to step in if they are deficient in an area, including special teams.
“I really want to get the right people around our guys,” Peera said. “The best way that has worked for me has been having a coordinator on both sides of the ball. That way I can kind of CEO the program, but I don’t have a preference either side of the ball, I just love ball. It’s just exciting to be back in high school and being able to prepare these young men.”