Since football head coach and athletic director Carlos Woods was dismissed July 16 after one season, multiple players have left Booker High School's football program, prompting many questions about the Tornadoes upcoming season.
What happened to Woods? Who is left at Booker? Will they have a season?
Here's what the Herald-Tribune knows so far.
Why did Carlos Woods get dismissed?
The Herald-Tribune has requested information from the FHSAA and Sarasota County looking into why Booker moved on from Woods after a 12-2 season.
Woods is still employed, while also being under investigation due to an active complaint, according to information provided by Sarasota County Schools. Since he is an employee, information about the complaint and investigation are confidential until the investigation is concluded
or until he is no longer employed by the school district.
Woods, who was an assistant on staff, replaced Scottie Littles as football coach and athletic directorafter he announced his resignation on April 16, 2025. Littles had bumps during his three-year tenure as he was ejected from Booker's state semifinal loss to Jacksonville Raines on Dec. 6, 2024, and received a three-game suspension for use of profanity toward game officials, while the school received a $550 fine. Littles also served three games of a six-game suspension in 2025 after an appeal lowered the game total following an FHSAA investigation that determined Littles violated its improper conduct and impermissible benefits policy for meeting with a Riverview student and his mother. He was also fined $5,000 and placed on a one-year probationary program.
So far, Booker has not publicly named a new head coach, but it has promoted assistant athletic director Angie Byrd to replace Woods in leading the Tornadoes' athletic program.
Will Booker have a season in 2026?
Despite official practices beginning on Monday, July 27, Booker has not held a practice yet and likely will not until the first week of August at the earliest, according to the school's athletic office.
Since Woods' dismissal, at least 21 players have transferred from Booker to surrounding schools. Before the mass exodus, Booker scheduled challenging opponents for its 2026 season, including Valdosta, a 24-time state champion in Georgia on Friday, October 2. Valdosta's athletic office told the Herald-Tribune that its game against Booker is pending and the teams are discussing whether the game can be played.
The Tornadoes also have a road game against St. John's College High School in Washington, DC, on their schedule for Sept. 19. St. John's is a 13-time Washington Catholic Athletic Conference champion. Cadets head coach Terrence Byrd wrote in an email to the Herald-Tribune that he was unaware of any changes at Booker.
Under the FHSAA handbook, Florida schools sign contracts agreeing to play each other ahead of the season, so area teams cannot reschedule another opponent in Booker's place. If Booker does not have 11 eligible players, then the program would perform a "safety forfeit," possibly making Booker financially responsible, including tickets, concessions, officials and security costs. There also could be financial penalties for mandatory forfeits forced by the FHSAA.
How will this impact area teams?
Booker went 22-6 over the last three seasons, appearing in its third straight semifinal appearance in 2025. The Tornadoes have become one of the strongest teams in the area, increasing opposing teams' strength of schedule. That strength is calculated using three winning percentages: the team's, their opponents' and opponents' opponents winning percentages. Margin of victory isn't a factor.
Booker is scheduled to play several area teams this season, including Venice, Palmetto, Braden River, Southeast, Bayshore, Cardinal Mooney and Riverview. With so many players transferring and delayed practices, those area could be affected in multiple ways. Not only will teams lose schedule strength, but they are also missing out on what should've been a big regular-season test.
Venice is scheduled to play Booker away during Week 1 on Friday, August 21, two weeks before traveling to Lakeland, a program that has nine state titles. An up-to-par Booker would've been a good challenge for the Indians before taking on the powerhouse.
Additionally, with the FHSAA's new open division — a championship bracket that groups the top eight teams regardless of class — strength of schedule matters more than ever, especially for powerhouses like Cardinal Mooney and Venice, who could be in the top eight.
And if Booker cannot field a team, it may be too late for it's scheduled opponents to find a replacement team to play a game so their schedules would drop down to nine contests for the season.
Still, while it might affect schedules negatively, several teams benefitted from Booker's breakup, getting talented transfers. So, while area programs might worry about their schedule's impacted strength, the exodus has also bolstered the teams' rosters.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: What we know about Carlos Woods' dismissal and Booker High football
