Mike Pickett, 15-time St. Johns Country Day champion coach, steps down

Mike Pickett, Northeast Florida's all-time leader in state championships for high school girls soccer, stepped down March 31 after 28 years at the helm of St. Johns Country Day. Pickett, 61, notified the Times-Union of the decision on Tuesday morning.

The winner of 15 Florida High School Athletic Association championships and three first-place finishes across multiple national rankings, Pickett recorded a 572-72-41 record over 29 seasons. He said he had been thinking about stepping away from the post since the middle of the recently-completed 2025-26 season. St.

Johns finished 15-4-3 against one of the state's strongest schedules before an upset loss to Lakeland Victory Christian in the Class 1A semifinal. "If you do this long enough, you get to a point where you realize it's time," he said. Pickett cited the pressure to continue a run of success unlike any other in Northeast Florida soccer history.

He said players sometimes felt the weight of that external pressure to keep the championship streak going, making it harder to enjoy the experiences along the way. "It's too much pressure on the kids," he said. There are also more opportunities for family time.