Turning the Page

Tim Hyde Steps Down after Eight Winning Seasons as Palisades High Head Football Coach

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

When he arrived at Palisades High for his first day as the head football coach in 2013, the first thing Tim Hyde wrote at his desk was a sticky note reading: “All about developing players.”

Over the next eight years, that is what he did and he brought respectability back to a program that had fallen on hard times.

“That’s what I wanted to do— build work ethic, camaraderie and change the culture,” said Hyde, who announced last week he is stepping down after eight seasons. “I enjoyed every minute and I have nothing but love for Palisades.”

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many people in different ways and for Hyde it meant having to deal with uncertainty as to whether there would even be a football season in 2020-21. It turned out there was—four games in the spring and the Dolphins went 3-1, upping his  record at the school to 56-27.  Having lived with his family back east for a year he has accepted the head coach position at Winnisquam Regional High School in Tilton, New Hampshire and he is ready for the new challenge.

“My wife Kelly is from Boston and we’ve been there since May 1 when the season ended,” Hyde said.   “I owed it to the kids at Palisades to come back and coach if they had a season and that’s what I did. This is a great job at a school that’s been very good and won state titles, but is now moving up divisions.”

Hyde has many memories from Palisades but one that sticks out is the Dolphins’ upset over Harvard-Westlake in his first season. He led Palisades to a share of the Western League title in 2015 but his best team was the following fall when the Dolphins beat Venice 14-7 to snap a 15-year losing streak to their archrivals and gain another share of the league crown.

“That will always be my proudest accomplishment,” Hyde said. “I;ve gone to state title games, I’ve had a lot of sweet victories, getting a Gatorade bath after we won the league title in 2019… all of that was special, but beating Venice for the first time was huge because that’s all we talked about from the moment I arrived. They were the team to beat—that was our Super Bowl!

Hyde led the Dolphins to the Division I or Open Division playoffs every year and his teams earned a reputation for being physical and playing hard for 48 minutes. He served on the City Section playoff committee the last six seasons and  was instrumental in starting the ‘Sunset Showdown’ with nearby Brentwood School. His teams also won the Charter Bowl grudge game with Granada Hills all seven times the schools met in the Hyde era.   

Pali High athletic director John Achen confirmed that former offensive coordinator Rocky Montz and current defensive coordinator Chris Hyduke will coach Palisades this season in a team effort to keep as much consistency as possible for the program. Hyde believes that the Dolphins are in good hands.

“Chris was my mentor and Rocky  will do a great job,” Hyde said.