Monday, August 18, 2008

A head coach's loyalty to his staff

When Jim Grobe coached Wake Forest to an ACC football title two years ago, plenty of schools took notice. His team went 8-4 last season, which drew more interest from major programs looking for a good coach.

But he remains at Wake. Here's why:

"For me personally, there have been some situations where people would look at me and say, 'Have you lost your mind? Why would you not go there?' But it wasn't a great move for my staff and I didn't feel like it would be good for the staff or the families. It's a big responsibility to pull up nine guys and their families and move on. And in some cases, quite frankly, some of the schools want you to keep some of the old staff members. For me that's non-negotiable. All my guys are going to go with me if I go."

Said one of his assistant coaches:

"A lot of guys get lured by the wrong stuff. Other guys get lured by the big name or the big money or the title and not enough guys stay for the right reasons. Coach Grobe has stayed here for the right reasons and the guys on the staff have stayed with him for the right reasons."