Gord Grace has been coaching his whole life. He eased into it by helping his dad coach youth teams in sports like soccer, hockey, basketball and obviously football. He states his father as his inspiration to start coaching. He started by coaching tyke football and had moved up to the Junior ranks in 1989 with the London Beefeaters. This was after a stellar 5-year career with Waterloo, where he started every game, playing receiver. In 1991 he moved on to Wilfrid Laurier University to coach the running backs and inside receivers, and to co-ordinate the run game. He stayed on until '94 with similar duties, the highlight being the Vanier Cup win over Mount Allison (ironically). Although the '91 WLU team was considered to be a passing team, they averaged over 200 yards a game on the ground in their '91 playoff run, a key to their success.
Then came a change of scenery that not only altered his coaching style but even the rest of his life. In 1994 he moved to Ann Arbor to be a graduate assistant with one of the United States' top program. Michigan University has be a perennial football powerhouse for as long as I can remember. There he would learn the most as he was taught by the best. Michigan taught him his aggressive but fair style of coaching with high expectations for his players. To this day, he still loves to push players, to make sure that they reach their full potential. There is no off-season at MU; football is 12 months a year. "3 years at Michigan is like 10 seasons in the CIAU" confirms Grace.
After turmoil in the 1996 Mountie football season, the head-coaching job opened up. Grace applied and got the job. He inherited a pretty good team but a team that still needed some tinkering. Call it luck or simple desire, Grace and 1997 Mounties finishing 5-3 that season and won the AUAA Championship after defeating the St-Francis X-Men. They then lost a heartbreaker to the eventual National Champs, UBC in the Atlantic Bowl. That season led to a convincing 6-2 finish in the '98 season. This time a loss in the AUAA Finals to Acadia would prevent the Mounties from going any further. After a disappointing '99 campaign, achieving only 3 wins in 8 tries, some people turned on Grace's style of coaching. It's imperative to note that 3 losses we're by a combined 10 points. Everything's fine when you're winning, but when you start losing, people start pointing a lot more fingers. After one of the only head coaching tenures that produced a career winning record, Grace seemed somewhat satisfied with his time here. He stepped down after the season to commit more time to his family and to his other job, as the leader of the Mount Allison Capital Campaign 2000, a massive fund-raising effort started a few years back.
Although most people would disagree with this fact, Grace says he'd rather pound the ball continually than to lead with a complicated passing offense. Like every football coach, he loves to have a balanced offense the pass settting up the run and vice versa. He's been involved with great running traditions (Michigan, Waterloo and Mount Allison) throughout his career, not by co-incidence. Grace agrees that talent will dictate the identity of your team. "If you have good athletes in your backfield and at the offensive line position, you're probably gonna be a predominately running team. You have to adapt to the talent you're given each year" says Grace, as is the case in every level of play.
Comparing Mount Allison to other, much bigger universities, especially in the funding and facilities departments, is ludicrous. Grace is quick to point that most players don't come to Mount Allison for the glitz and glamour. Mount Allison doesn't boast the best facilities or the most money, but they are surely committed to football and academics. Because of the high entrance standards, the pool of student athletes that Mount Allison has to recruit from is a fraction's of most schools. Combine that with a small in-province recruiting class and most factors don't advantage the Sackville campus. Mounties make up for it by having unbelievable team chemistry and a unique university experience. To make up for some disadvantages, the already minuscule coaching staff has to work much harder. Some teams have 3 full-time coaches while the Mounties have 1 and a bit. Grace has been called the hardest working coach by many, earning that reputation quite well. Teams like Laval and UBC may have much more resources to work with but with dedication showed by Grace, teams like Mount A will surely play on an even level.
Public image is crucial in this era of multi-media. Grace has been able to turn a small budget into marvelous recruiting tools. An incredible website, a breathtaking highlight film and a flashy game day program shows that Mount Allison deserves to be in the upper echelon of teams. "Recruiting is everything" according to Grace. Many top people in the CIAU, NCAA and the professional ranks share that philosophy. Mount Allison's strong academic reputation paired with a strong showing in the standings recently, helped recruiting during Grace's years. Add to the fact that the man is professional, has a great presence and is a vivid speaker and you got a dynamite combination. Grace agrees that you need talent to be successful and a good season health-wise doesn't hurt. The fact that Grace recruits athletes that could be good students helps down the road because they don't need a big brother figure at every turn.
Another controversial issue these days that Grace isn't reluctant to tackle is the implementation of athletic scholarships. Grace thinks that these scholarships are great for student-athletes, considering that everyone is dealt the same cards. "They're good only if a school can afford them" Grace quickly remarks. Some schools are having problems financing their own athletic departments. Grace thinks that there are some tiers in CIAU football these days and he adds that the gap is widening everyday. One person that surely deserved a scholarship from many standpoints is Eric Lapointe. Grace called him not only "easily the best running back of all-time in the CIAU" but also a "great guy, sincere, he puts the team above all". Grace loves to talk about Lapointe the man as much as he likes to talk about Lapointe the talent. He puts him in the top 5 players of all-time in the CIAU. He says that Lapointe truly enjoys the camaraderie of the team as it is evident in his quick return to Sackville this year even after his championship season. Grace concluded the subject by saying that Lapointe has a very bright future, especially after beating the odds at every stage of his life.
Grace's role with Mountie
football in the millennium is still undetermined. As far as he knows, he's
still raising funds for the team and the athletic department. He's still
somewhat involved with the 5th Quarter Club, a non-lucrative
association to help with the football team. Some possibilities for coaching
in the near future still exists but that rests with the new coach, the
only known fact is that if he comes back it will be in a diminished capacity.
He also has some advice for aspiring coaches like myself. He says to start
at whatever level you feel comfortable at. Decide how far you want to go,
remembering that anything's possible. Dedication augments at every level
and remember to get in for the right reasons. "Nothing's better than playing,
feeling part of the team but coaching's a close second" remarks Grace adding
that "having fun is the most important thing". Hopefully through all the
trials and tribulations, he still had some time to have fun…