BY ERIK FLYNN
Hall of Fame linebacker Mike Singletary once asked the question, “Do you know what my favorite part of the game is?” His answer: “The opportunity to play.”
Kurry Commins, who on December 20th was tapped to be the new head coach after Tom Crosby’s 32 years at the helm, repeatedly echoed the famed Singletary quote to the 2012 Warriors as the season creeped closer to an end.
Why?
“I do believe that football is one of the greatest teachers of life there is out there,” said Commins. “This truly is my passion.”
Commins, who played college ball at Ohio Weslyan, was head coach at Mt. Healthy from 2001-2005 (43-12) and then Oak Hills from 2006-2012 (23-37), joined the Mariemont coaching staff for the 2012 season as an assistant and the special teams coach. After the retirement of Crosby, Commins interviewed for the head job in front of a panel of faculty, players, parents, and community members.
Among the panel members was teacher Amy Leatherwood.“(Commins) was very genuine and said a lot about being a full player and developing a whole character, and it wasn’t just about athleticism, which as a teacher was something I was really hoping to hear,” Leatherwood said of the interview process.
“My number one priority and responsibility is to build productive, effective members of society so when they leave they are career and college ready, and I believe we do that through teaching a lifetime value system,” Commins said.
Commins’ passion for football and coaching stems from a lifelong dedication to the game and using it as the device for instilling these life lessons and values in his players, and in himself.
“The things that I hope to teach, just like Coach Crosby taught, is that there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t rely on something one of my coaches told me or that I learned through adversity I had to come by in a sport,” said Commins.
Commins believes the best way to impress these lessons on his players is to be the example himself.
“I can’t ask my players to come in to practice and go through the motions, so I think we (as a coaching staff) have to model the expectation.”
