The inaugural FLASHYS, held by the FHSAA, took place on June 7, honoring Florida’s top administrators, officials and athletes and their leadership for the 2025-26 academic and athletic calendar.
Mainland alumnus, longtime coach and current athletic director Terry Anthony was among those recognized at a ceremony in The Villages, winning the title of Male Educator of the Year.
“I’m definitely humbled and honored to win the first, the inaugural Educator of the Year award,” Anthony told the Daytona Beach News-Journal. “I’m definitely honored to be recognized by the state as one of top ADs in the state. … And I just want to make it clear that the only reason that I’m able to do what I do is because I have such a great, great bunch of coaches under me, as well as the student-athletes that I deal with every day. So it’s an award that has my name on it, but it’s definitely an award that’s won by many people.”
Anthony has devoted much of his adult life to his alma mater after a successful football career at the high school led him to play college ball at Florida State and two years in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Over the last 30 years with the Mainland Buccaneers, Anthony has coached a variety of sports, including football, basketball, baseball and track and field. He also spent 10 years as the Bucs’ assistant athletic director before taking over as the head AD.
And now he has a trophy to show for it, which is a new feeling for the man that has had his fair share of athletic accolades over the years.
“[Anthony] leads by example. He carries himself by the way he wants his coaches and student-athletes to act and represent Mainland High School,” Volusia County athletic specialist Lary Beal said. “He’s very humble, he’s very quiet, he knows how to reach kids. … He does everything he can to make sure his program is doing what they’re supposed to be doing and representing the school in the right way.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: FHSAA names Mainland AD Terry Anthony Male Educator of the Year
