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Sports

MRH Coach Brandon Gregory Wins Football and Track Coach of the Year

He took two Maplewood Richmond Heights teams to state-level competition last year, and he's being noticed.

Forty or so Blue Devils arrive at , walking the couple blocks from school, carrying shoulder pads. They don’t spend much time in the shade before head football coach Brandon Gregory (“Coach Greg,” “BG”) gets on them to start warming up.

They realize that Gregory, 31, knows his stuff. His football days began at age 6, and his credentials include football coach of the year from the Demetrious Johnson Charitable Foundation and the St. Louis American newspaper. Those came last season after he led the football team to the state championship game in his first year as head coach.


Athletic director: Gregory's work ethic yields student response
Gregory now has another biggie on his resume: After achieving three consecutive state track championships last spring for MRH, in as many years as head coach, the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) crowned him track coach of the year for all schools, all classes.

The numbers for those winning MRH teams are impressive. This year, MRH scored 104 points and the second-place team scored 50. Last year, MRH scored 75.25 and the second-place team scored 53. In 2009, MRH scored 85 points to the second-place team's 49.

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“Winning state three years in a row, I guess that rung a bell,” Gregory said.

MRH athletic director Malcolm Hill said Gregory’s work ethic is the difference.

“The first day of moving into my office, there were 45 kids lifting weights in off-season,” Hill said. “Unbelievable, for a school this size to have that many kids in the middle of June working out.

“He has a very strong off-season program. Some coaches don’t go the extra mile,” Hill said.

From NFL dreams to coaching and teaching
Gregory grew up in St. Louis and played his high school football at . He went from there, to junior college in Hutchinson, KS, and ended up playing football and getting his degree at the University of New Mexico. His goal was the National Football League, so he got into the Arena Football League. But he bounced from team to team, and it got old. He was ready to come home.

Back in St. Louis, in 2003, he had a hard time finding a job. “I had a degree, diploma, all that, and I was filling out applications, and I had never worked,” he said. “I had played sports since I was 6, so I really didn’t have job experience.”

Fortunately, his mother ran into the MRH football coach. That led to assistant coaching and substitute teaching. Gregory now teaches full-time for in addition to his coaching. So things worked out eventually.

He preaches the importance of having a backup plan to his student-athletes because he knows they just can’t count on a professional sports career like he did.

“I was just sold on NFL. I didn’t realize then, until now. Twenty-four, 25 years old, 'Hey, NFL is not going to work.' So now I lost some years,” he said. “I could have been getting my certification long time ago.”

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Gregory does the best he can to head his players in the right direction. He said recognitions are nice. But something else makes him really proud: Getting his players into colleges.

“I take pride in getting these kids out of Maplewood and going off to see the real world and going to college,” he said. “Not only to continue their academics, but also to continue playing sports and saving their parents hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Last year, he sent off six students for football and three for track. He’s fighting the reputation that football players are "knuckleheads.” He wants his players to be true student-athletes.

“I just try and tell my kids, if they do what they have to do in the classroom and on the field and the track, I’ll do the best I can to get the message out there to coaches,” he said. “At the end of the day, if they do their part, I’m going to do my part, too.”

'Staying put' for now with big-time dreams
Gregory’s success has been noticed. He said that after he took MRH football all the way to the Edward Jones Dome last year, he started getting calls from some of the larger schools in the area, and he’s thinking even bigger than that.

“I wouldn’t mind taking over a big-time program in a state such as Texas or California or Florida,” he said, but “other than that, I’m staying put.” He also said he would love to coach at the college level.

“I know eventually I have to do what’s best for me and my family, but it would hurt for me to leave these kids,” he said.

For now, though, MRH has him, and he’s making an impact.

“The kids respond to him,” Hill said. “When he asks them to be in study hall, they report to study hall. When he asks them to go the the weight room, they’re all there, to the film room, they’re all there. Whatever comes out of his mouth, the kids take it in and they listen to him. He’s a tremendous leader. He has a great reputation among the student-athletes here at MRH.”

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