A Hernando County teacher and sports legend is moving on after spending decades at Springstead High School.

  • Coach Bob Levija was Springstead's first wrestling coach
  • Levija led wrestling program to three state championships
  • Took over as athletic director in 2000

Coach Bob Levija is saying goodbye to Springstead, but he's definitely left his mark on the school he's been a part of for almost 40 years.

“Yeah, it's a long time,” said Levija. “Am I going to miss it? Yes."

Levija just retired after a 37 year career. He arrived at Springstead a few years after the school opened its doors in the mid 1970's.

“At that time there wasn't even a stop light in Spring Hill,” Levija said. “I taught drivers ed, and the only place to go to experience a stop light was Brooksville."

Levija was Springstead's first wrestling coach, and put the program on track to win three state championships in a row. In 2000, he took over as the school's athletic director, and set about the task of turning around the whole department.

Dustin Kupcik is taking over now that Levija has moved on. He says he's replacing a legend.

“He's a legend as a coach. He's a legend as a teacher. He's a legend as an athletic director," said Kupcik. "He's a legend on this campus and he is a legend all over the county."

“We wanted to have an attitude of 'just do your best' and 'do it the right way,'" said Levija, "and I think we accomplished that at Springstead.”

Levija's retirement is official on May 31. He isn't sure what he's going to do next.