Today’s interviewee is Gordon Central coach Lenny Gregory, whose team broke a 31-game losing streak with a 62-0 victory over Southeast Whitfield last week. Gregory took over the program in 2023 after leading Collins Hill for six seasons, including the 2021 Class 7A championship year. Citing differences with administration, Gregory resigned and was hired at Gordon Central, a rural Class A Division I school.
1. What did this win mean to you and your team? What’s been the reaction? “The win was incredible for our kids. You know, our kids who are seniors this year, this is their first win in their high school career. And they have been through a lot of adversity. They have been through coaching changes, and for me on a personal note, getting these kids to buy in and believe in our program and our culture is what we’re trying to do. It was just extremely rewarding to see the kids experience success. I think as coaches we forget that this game is about the kids. For me to be able to help out and bring a plan here and work for these kids is extremely exciting.”
2. What has been your main focus for the improvement of Gordon Central since the beginning? “Some of the issues that I found when I came in was the weight room. They didn’t have a strong strength-and-conditioning program, and our kids were out of shape and weren’t very strong. You can’t play football and be successful and not be good in the weight room. So we had to implement the same strength program I had at Centennial and Collins Hill. Both of those programs that I had were very similar when I took them over. So getting that thing fixed first, and then getting the kids to commit and the families to commit because it’s not just the kids that you’ve got to get to buy in. What I mean by that is, you know, our summer program is so important and requires people to commit four days a week, getting up early in the morning. So being there at 7:30 to work out until 11 o’clock. And not all families can do that, and they definitely were not used to that here. And so, year one was a struggle, a lot of issues with attendance. And then we had injuries. And part of the injuries was we were physically not strong enough. Now they have a year under my belt and a year in the weight room, experiencing what a summer looks like, of commitment. What they did this summer was they bought into it. They bought into the all-season strength-and-conditioning program. We saw tremendous growth in the weight room. I mean, tremendous growth. And then they bought in in the summer, and they were there every day. We had over 90% attendance all summer long, which is incredible. And some of the coaches that have been around our program here at Gordon Central have not seen that. And so our kids, our parents, our communities really bought in to get invested in the hard work, and that investment is what pays off.”
3. Previously coaching Collins Hill to the state championship, what was it like to take over at a school coming off consecutive 0-10 seasons? “Kids are kids. It doesn’t matter where you’re at. The kids want structure, they want to be coached, they want to learn, and they just need somebody to pour into them. And there’s such a deep level of appreciation here at Gordon Central that they almost thank you for coaching. I’m just like, ‘Guys, I’m doing my job,’ you know. But it really is a joy to work with these kids because they’re just starving for structure and guidance, and they want to believe in something, and I think we’ve given them something to believe in.”
4. Coming off of this big win, what are some realistic expectations you have set for this program? “First off, it doesn’t matter what program you are in, you have to stay grounded. The mindset we have had is your focus is just every week to go 1-0. Can’t look at the season, can’t predict records or scores. We have to focus on us, and every week we have to improve. Good football teams get better as the season goes. They get to win state championships, they just get better and better every week. And bad teams get worse. So we have to be one of those good teams that every week builds on the previous week. And part of that is staying humble. Part of it is being allergic to some of the compliments you’re given. It’s OK to get recognition, but we also have to stay grounded and keep our eyes on improvement and fixing our mistakes. I believe that if you don’t fix your mistakes, your opponents will. So we tell the kids all the time, ‘you’ve got to come to work, put your hard hat on and come with the energy and the effort to improve.’”
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