Matt Brunson, who built Baker into one of Florida’s premier small-school football programs and delivered the coverage area its first state championship in 25 years, has been named to the Florida High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame for the 2026 class.
- The honor caps a career defined by winning at two schools within the coverage area, with 22 playoff appearances, 13 district titles, 12 Final Four appearances, four state championship game appearances and a 288-85 overall record.
Brunson’s connection to Baker football traces back to his playing days, when he was a standout linebacker during the Gators’ 1980s dynasty that produced three consecutive state titles and a 42-game winning streak. He later returned as defensive coordinator on the 1993 state championship team.
His head coaching career began at Vernon, where he served from 1997 to 2000 and was named the Florida Dairy Farmers Class 1A Coach of the Year in 2000. That success drew the attention of Crestview, where the highlight of his tenure came in 2002 when the Bulldogs reached the Class 3A state championship game before falling to Rockledge 22-0. Brunson was recognized as the Florida Dairy Farmers 3A Coach of the Year that season.
- He led Crestview to the playoffs four more times — in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010 — with first-round losses to Milton twice, Pace and Pine Forest.
Following the 2010 season, Brunson stepped down at Crestview and headed west to Baker, where he took over as head football coach and athletic director. There, he transformed the Gators into a small-school powerhouse built around the program’s vaunted Wing-T offense, which featured workhorse running backs who routinely posted Madden numbers and broke records with ease.
Baker reached five consecutive Final Fours from 2015 to 2020, finishing as state runner-up in 2016 and 2018.
The crowning achievement came in 2020, when the Gators went 15-0 behind two workhorse backs — Brunson’s son, Joe Brunson, and Kayleb Wagner — and a stout defense anchored by Jared Raybon, Brandon Moss, Zane Steele and Ethan Edge.
Baker steamrolled through the playoffs and defeated Hawthorne in the Class 1A state championship game, capping the undefeated season and delivering the coverage area its first football state title since Fort Walton Beach won it all in 1995.
- Brunson was again named the Florida Dairy Farmers 1A Coach of the Year.
He coached one more season at Baker in 2021, highlighted by Wagner rushing for 535 yards and six touchdowns in a 49-48 win over South Walton — a performance that shattered Derrick Henry’s record for most rushing yards in a single game in Florida high school football history. The season ended on a sour note, however, when Chipley came into Doug Griffith Memorial Stadium and defeated the Gators 22-7 in the Elite Eight, marking the first time since 2014 that Baker failed to reach the Final Four.
Brunson stepped down as head coach following that season to focus solely on his athletic director duties, but his retirement from coaching didn’t last long. He took the head football coach and athletic director position at Opp High School in Opp, Alabama, about an hour north of Baker, and led the Bobcats to a 4-7 record and a first-round playoff exit.
In 2024, Brunson returned home to once again lead Baker football, and he wasted no time restoring the program. The Gators made the playoffs in 2024, and 2025 marked a full return to the standard. Baker finished with its first undefeated regular season since the 2020 state title run and reached the Elite Eight before falling to Chiefland.
Brunson’s résumé extends beyond the win-loss record. Throughout his career, he has consistently developed young men of character who go on to do great things beyond the football field — work that is now being recognized with his induction into the FHSAA Hall of Fame.
