By David Knox, Sports Editor
“Like most coaches, I decided to go into coaching because of the power of my coaches’ influence over me and my teammates, I wanted to emulate them by teaching others what I had been taught. … I felt that through coaching I could make a difference in the lives of of those who played the game.”
Grant Teaff, former college head football coach and executive director emeritus of American Football Coaches Association
“The coach is first of all a teacher.”
John Wooden, Hall of Fame basketball coach
Yes, the coach is a teacher, as John Wooden said. He can be more than that, too. He can be a surrogate dad to a child who doesn’t have one, he can be a ride to practice and a ride home. He can be a ride to a college opportunity. And he can ride you till you hate him so much you love him, and till you become are the most you can be.
Sometimes, he’s the dad of a player. But not always. As in Grant Teaff’s case, he’s the man a player wants to be like, and he motivates you so much you want to pass that on. And sometimes he’s just the dad, and not a coach. Clay-Chalkville coach Jerry Hood’s son plays football, but not for Hood. Willie Miller Jr., the former Center Point coach, stepped away from coaching to watch his own son, Willie III, play at Clay-Chalkville.
And in many cases, it’s a dad who’s not a coach who nonetheless influences his son in ways that reveal themselves in the son’s coaching career.
So who influenced the coaches who influence the kids in our communities?
This is the second in a series of stories regarding coaches in our community and who has influenced them.
Matt Glover, Pinson Valley
Josh Niblett’s father was a coach. So was Bill Clark’s. So was Buddy Anderson’s.
Not Pinson Valley coach Matt Glover’s, though. And that’s not to say his father hasn’t been a major influence on who is is as a coach.
“I’ve only been an assistant under two other coaches,” Glover said. “One was John Grass, who’s head coach at Jacksonville State now, and Tripp Curry, who was at Cherokee. I guess I took a little of both from them.”
Glover played at Springville High School, graduating in 1992. He returned as an assistant to Curry in 1996 and then moved with him to be an assistant at Cherokee County. He moved to Moody, serving under Grass. When Grass left to become head coach at Spain Park, Glover stepped up to the head coaching position, leading the Blue Devils for three seasons before coming to Pinson Valley in 2009.
Glover has taken the Indians to the playoffs six straight seasons and at 5-2, 3-1 in Class 6A, Region 6, they’re in good shape to make it seven straight in this, his eighth season, in the Valley.
He is just seven wins shy of becoming the all-time wins leader at Pinson Valley, and he is the leader in winning percentage; he’s the only coach in school history with an overall winning record.
But it’s what he’s done off the field that has been more important at Pinson Valley. There’s been a culture change.
“We’ve got kids who are doing the right things,” he said at preseason media days. “My first couple of years, my email was blowing up with complaints from teachers. Now, it’s not happening. I think maturity is the big change we’ve got, off-the-field change. They know we as coaches don’t play; you don’t do right, you’re not going to be a part of us.
“And that carries over. Little things win games. We’re trying to do things right off the field to make great things happen on the field.”
Glover said he carried away different things from the two coaches he served under.
“I guess I took my fiery-type ways from Coach Curry, and when it comes to organization-type stuff, I took that from Coach Grass,” Glover said. “You know, I didn’t grow up with a family of coaches, a lot of guys who coach, they grew up in a family of coaches. I didn’t do that.
“But to be honest with you, I think I got a lot of it from my dad, because …”
The coach paused for a moment to compose himself.
“He just went through cancer, so it’s just … I think just the work ethic through him, you know? He’s just one of those guys, and he still does, he never sits down. He’s like, he’s got one of those Fitbits, and he just went and got through cancer, and Mom said, ‘I think he’s trying to prove to them he can do it.’ The other day at 10 o’clock in the morning he’s like at 15,000 steps.
“He’s not a runner or nothing, he’s just out working. So I think I got a lot from him.”
That’s the good and the not-so-good, too.
“A lot of bad things from him too,” the Indians coach said. “When it comes to the bad, it’s like, I don’t do a good job of delegating stuff out. He always taught me if you want it done right, do it yourself.
“And so you can see me out there cutting the field, I’m the one who cuts that field, it’s just something I do. I’ve never wanted to be one of those coaches that delegates stuff and doesn’t do anything, so I want my assistant coaches to see me working, I’m out there doing everything.”
