Palmetto’s Manasco and Goleman’s Cribeiro are Dade 7A-4A Co-Coaches of the Year

Mike Manasco and Ariel Cribeiro put together two of the best runs in their programs’ respective histories, with Manasco taking Palmetto the state semifinals for only the second time in school history and Cribeiro getting Goleman to the region finals for the first time ever.

For their memorable seasons, Manasco and Cribeiro are the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade County Football Coaches of the Year for Classes 7A-4A.

Manasco is now responsible for the only two final-four runs in school history. The coach first guided the Panthers to the state semis in 2020, during a season massively disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Five years later, Manasco won another region championship, knocking off archrival Columbus twice along the way.

Although it is a regular fixture in the playoffs, Palmetto lost in the first round of the postseason last year and hadn’t gotten past the region semifinals since 2021. Notably, the Explorers also opted not to take part in the Florida High School Athletic Association playoffs during the COVID-affected 2020 season, so this was the Panthers first time besting their fiercest rival to win the region. Manasco continues to be one of the most consistent coaches in South Florida, regularly stringing together postseason wins in Pinecrest while setting the standard in southern Dade County.

Coincidentally, Palmetto also knocked off the Gators in the Region 4-7A championship at the end of Goleman’s best season ever.

Before this year, the Gators had only ever won one postseason game in their history, more than 20 years ago in 2004. In one season, Cribeiro and Goleman doubled the previous postseason win total, edging South Dade by two points in the first round and then soundly beating Spanish River in the second to set up a showdown with the perennial powerhouse Panthers.

Although Palmetto ultimately handled Gators, Cribeiro achieved previously unheard of results in Miami Lakes, putting together perhaps the most talented roster in program history and, most importantly, keeping those talented players together in an era of frequent transfers.