A Coach's Path: Unexpected Turns and Unforgettable Connections (feat. Kevin McCravy):

Those who know me know I love the game of football. I could go on and on about how great football is. During my time at Decatur High School, I was a part of the football team. Now, I was not the best player by any means, but I loved the game and everyone I was around.

One of the people I grew really close with while at Decatur High was Kevin McCravy, he was one of our offensive coaches, and then took the job as offensive coordinator halfway through my time at Decatur. McCravy has poured into me greatly, I consider him to be a true friend of mine. He strived to make sure we did the little things right, on and off the field.

What you are about to read is his story, his story of coaching, and lessons he has learned along the way. So, I'll let him take it away!

"I don’t know if anyone has a normal journey in the coaching world. Mine certainly hasn’t been. I dropped out of college in 2001 and moved back home and took a job with a contractor at Solutia. After working there for nine months, I ran into my middle school PE teacher, Bob Weakley, who had since gone from coaching at Austin High School to starting the middle school program at Cedar Ridge. He asked if I would be interested in volunteering, and from the first day I stepped foot on the field, I knew this is what I wanted to do. Coach Weakley had a football and military background. I learned a lot about loyalty, organization, structure and motivation in working with him. From there, I moved on to be a student assistant coach at UNA. I worked directly under offensive line coach Terry Tilghman. I learned a lot about scheme, and it was also a continuation of how to motivate kids, and how to treat people right.

From UNA, I went back to Cedar Ridge briefly, and also helped at Austin High School. During my time back in Decatur, I met and started talking with Kenny Morson and Lee Cagle, both at Decatur High, quite a bit. This turned into building a relationship with Jere Adcock as well. I knew I wanted to be a part of Decatur High football. However, timing never works how we wish. I started working at Danville High School, for head coach Joey Burch. Working for him showed me once again that doing things the right way is so important when it comes to coaching high school football. He was also great at getting the most out of the athletes we had at Danville.

After my second year at Danville, Joey got out of coaching, and the first person I talked to was Coach Adcock. I simply asked if it would be ok if I could hang out, be an extra set of eyes, and hopefully volunteer at the least. Six months into volunteering, I was offered a job and began a 13 year tenure coaching at Decatur High. When Coach Adcock decided to retire, I put all my energy into taking over the program and continuing the legacy started 90 years ago by Coach Ogle, which continued through Coach Adcock. Again, timing wasn’t in my favor, but the day after finding out I wasn’t getting the job, John Ritter reached out to me.

Within a week, I was offered a job as the offensive coordinator at Russellville High School. Going from Adcock to Ritter was like stepping into Decatur High all over again. It was really good for me to leave a place like Decatur and step into a very similar place like Russellville. Not only tradition wise, but to work for another guy who did things the right way.

Less than a year after working at Russellville, my head coaching opportunity finally came, and I accepted the head coaching job at West Point High School. I’ve tried taking all the lessons I’ve learned in the last 20 years and apply them to West Point. I’ve been very fortunate to work for people who do things the right way, have structure and organization, and who treat kids the right way.

My biggest take away has to be the relationships. It’s always good when a former player texts or calls, or I run into one, and I get to meet his wife and kids and catch up, and it’s always great to hear how they miss it and the stories they will tell. Relationships go beyond just former players. My best friends are all coaches. Especially the guys I was with at Decatur for so long. We still talk daily. We had an extremely close group of coaches, who worked hard, and we have always been there for each other outside of football, through many of life’s ups and downs. I’m glad to call those guys my friends, and I know to this day, if me or any of those guys ever needed anything, the rest of us would be there."

~ Kevin McCravy

I am so thankful for people like Coach McCravy! There is something special about people who pour so much of themselves into others. I hope you enjoyed reading!