Oasis head football coach leading the Sharks after 22 years with Cape Coral Police

There’s a new leader in the middle of the Oasis High School football huddle: head coach Brice Bearman.

“I like being a Cape Coral guy,” Bearman said. “I’ve been here for over 40 years. I think I know how this community works.”

This is Bearman’s first season as a high school football head coach. His first coaching job, coaching freshmen at Cape Coral High School in 1989.

“I coach kids now that I coached their dads,” Bearman said.

Before patroling the sidelines for Oasis, he patroled the streets of Cape Coral for the city’s police department. He started as a patrol officer. Bearman was also a school resource officer and most recently a major crimes detective. Bearman retired from department five months before he took the job at Oasis.

“A no nonsense get the job done kind of guy,” Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore explained. “Wasn’t really into the flash. Probably a highlight feature like this would make him shake his head.”

When the city was hit by Hurricane Ian, Bearman showcased that get the job mentality.

Sizemore recalled, “we had hundreds of calls for service every single day. And I remember one day in particular shortly after Ian passed, Brice Bearman himself handled several hundred calls for service. He was a machine and that’s what he was.”

Bearman is taking some of the skills he learned with the police and bringing it to his team.

Bearman explained, “I think it’s being focused. Being able to take care of the things that we can control. We can’t control anything else other than what we can control.”

And that message has resonated with his players like Adrian Gessa, who said “if you focus on the little things, big things can happen.”

“We’re trying to teach them how to be good citizens good sons good brothers good people in the community,” Bearman said. “Someone this school can be proud of.”