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Photo by Tim Stephens
Hoover Bucs assistant coach Ky Gregory, right, presents a plaque honoring head coach Greg Blackman for achieving his 300th career victory. Blackman's wife, LeeAnn, left, and members of the Hoover 6th grade football team look on at Bob Barthel Stadium in Hoover on Sept. 10, 2024.
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Photo by Tim Stephens
Hoover City Council President John Lyda, right, and Mayor Frank V. Brocato present a proclamation honoring Hoover 6th grade football coach Greg Blackman for his 300th career victory on Sept. 10, 2024. Blackman's record after defeating Thompson 40-0 was 300-27-1 in 29 seasons with Hoover youth football.
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Photo by Tim Stephens
Hoover Bucs 6th grade team member Robert Olvey gets fired up before the team's game against Thompson on Sept. 10, 2024. Hoover won 40-0 to give Coach Greg Blackman his 300th career victory.
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Photo by Tim Stephens
Members of the Hoover Bucs 6th grade football team, led by Coach Greg Blackman, right, stand for the National Anthem before their game against Thompson on Sept. 10, 2024 at Bob Barthel Stadium in Hoover.
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Photo by Tim Stephens
Coach Greg Blackman reacts to a play during the Hoover 6th grade football team's victory over Thompson on Sept. 10, 2024 at Bob Barthel Stadium in Hoover. The victory was Blackman's 300th in a 29-year coaching career.
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Photo by Pamela Franco
With a large crowd gathered in the stands behind them, Hoover 6th grade football coach Greg Blackman checks the scoreboard clock before his Bucs take the field for their game against Thompson on Sept. 10, 2024. The Bucs won 40-0, giving Blackman his 300th career victory.
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Photo by Pamela Franco
Hoover cheerleaders show their support and congratulations for Coach Greg Blackman's 300th career victory on Sept. 10, 2024 at Bob Barthel Stadium in Hoover.
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Photo by Tim Stephens
Former player Michael DeJohn shows a sign of support for Coach Greg Blackman during the Hoover 6th grade football team's game against Thompson on Sept. 10, 2024. DeJohn played youth football for Blackman in the Hoover youth leagues before going on to star for the Bucs' varsity and then play four seasons as a walk-on linebacker for Coach Nick Saban and the University of Alabama Crimson Tide from 2007-10.
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Photo by Tim Stephens
Hoover Mayor Frank V. Brocato takes a video of the Hoover 6th grade football team after it recorded Coach Greg Blackman's 300th career victory on Sept. 10, 2024 at Bob Barthel Stadium in Hoover.
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Photo by Tim Stephens
Hoover High School varsity coach Chip English, left, and Hoover Athletic Director Harley Lamey congratulated Coach Greg Blackman on his 300th career coaching victory on Sept. 10, 2024. Blackman has coached Hoover youth teams since 1995, laying a foundation at the youth level that has helped Hoover's varsity teams become one of the state's most successful over the past 29 years.
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Photo by Tim Stephens
Hoover 6th grade football coach Greg Blackman watches the action during the Bucs' 40-0 victory over Thompson on Sept. 10, 2024. Looking on are Bucs players Knox Gregory (20) and Courtlin Minter (13).
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Photo by Pamela Franco
Hoover 6th grade football players, including Knox Gregory (20), present Coach Greg Blackman with a plaque commemorating his 300th career victory as a coach for Hoover youth football on Sept. 10, 2024.
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Photo by Pamela Franco
The 2024 Hoover Bucs 6th grade football team poses for a team photo after their 40-0 victory over Thompson on Sept. 10, 2024 at Bob Barthel Stadium in Hoover. The victory was Coach Greg Blackman's 300th with Hoover youth football since 1995.
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Photo by Tim Stephens
Coach Greg Blackman hugs his granddaughter after earning his 300th career coaching victory in the Hoover youth football league.
What makes a great coach?
The late, great John Wooden, who won 10 NCAA basketball championships at UCLA, described it this way:
“A good coach can change a game,” Wooden once said. “A great coach can change a life.”
In the case of Greg Blackman, you can make that hundreds of lives.
Many of those impacted by Blackman’s 29-plus years as a volunteer coach in the Hoover Bucs Youth Football and Cheer League gathered in September at Bob Barthel Stadium in hopes of seeing him make some history.
The rival Thompson Warriors stood in the way of career victory No. 300. The sixth-grade Bucs didn’t waste any time in giving the home crowd no reason to worry that a night of celebration might get doused with defeat.
The Bucs scored on the first play and never looked back. The final score of 40-0 was merely the exclamation mark on what would soon be hugs, speeches, more hugs and memories – lots and lots of memories from 300 moments just like this.
Ky Gregory, a longtime assistant coach for the young Bucs, put it this way as he read off the list of Blackman’s accomplishments: a 300-27-1 record in 29 seasons, 17 undefeated seasons, 20 league championships and five Turkey Bowl championships. With rosters averaging 25 players per team, Gregory estimated that at least 725 players had been coached by Blackman from first to sixth grade over the years.
“Wins are a great thing but what Coach Greg has done is so much more than just winning football games,” he told the crowd. “The things people don’t really see. For instance, when he takes kids all the way through elementary ball, he writes a handwritten note to each kid at the end of the season. I know personally of two (Gregory’s sons) who sleep every night with that note at the side of their bed."
The accolades didn't stop there.
On Nov. 9, Blackman's 2024 campaign ended with not one, but two, undefeated championship teams. His sixth-grade Bucs defeated Homewood 32-8 to capture the league championship, making that player group 45-0 since third grade.
The third-grade team Blackman coached this year beat Homewood 6-0 to also finish 10-0.
Those achievements pushed his cumulate totals to 314-27-1, with 19 undefeated seasons, 20 league titles and seven Turkey Bowl victories.
Blackman and his teams will be recognized Friday during the Hoover High School varsity's second-round playoff game against Opelika at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
The link between Blackman's youth program and the success of the Hoover varsity isn't lost on participants.
Back in September, Michael DeJohn was among the former players who wouldn’t have missed the milestone. DeJohn was coached by Blackman from first grade through sixth grade on his way to being a standout for multiple Hoover High state championship teams and then walking on at Alabama from 2007-10, where he added a national championship with the Crimson Tide.
He stood in the bleachers Tuesday with a sign that proclaimed Blackman as the youth football GOAT (Greatest of All Time), and nobody here would argue against that point.
“He's been a staple in the community for a very long time,” DeJohn said. “Most of the coaches out there, they are coaching their sons and then they are done. Greg's out here doing it because he loves the game.
“He loves the impact he has on these kids' lives and teaching them. It just means a lot to Hoover. He’s just a tremendous coach and a man.”
Blackman got his start with the Hoover league coaching his own sons, as many youth coaches do. But then he just sort of stayed, and stayed, and stayed. The wins kept piling up. And the legacy did too. Players matriculated to Hoover High, which became one of the great dynasties in state history winning 11 state titles between 2000-2017. Many like DeJohn went on to play in college. Some, such as Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, won Heisman Trophies and went on to play in the NFL.
All of them thanked Blackman along the way for helping set a foundation for success. Among those there to show their support Tuesday were current Hoover High interim head coach Chip English and director of athletics Harley Lamey. Mayor Frank V. Brocato and City Council President John Lyda presented a proclamation, and Hoover booster club board member David Bannister raved about the impact Blackman has made in developing future Bucs for the varsity.
Blackman, a plumber by trade, didn’t want to take any of the credit. He’s been in the game long enough now to have coached his sons, and his grandsons, and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. For him, this has never been about anything more than helping kids learn to love football and gain some life lessons along the way.
“You hang around long enough, you know, you win some, But it's not me," he said. "I've had fantastic parents and players, especially the players. It's always good to go out there when you've got, you know, really good players. Great assistants. Every one of my assistants had always been just unbelievable help. It's not even close to my record. It's everybody's record.
“It's just an accomplishment for what all these kids have done. And I'm just honored and just to be a part of all their lives and their childhood growing up.”
Asked when he knew he was hooked on coaching, the answer was simple: “Day one, day one. I mean, just to see a kid and work with him, the good kids get it immediately. But you sit there and you work with those other kids and all of a sudden it clicks with them, that's when it matters.
“You know, it's easy to be the coach that the excellent athletes like. It's the good coach that the kids that don't get to play a lot come up and hug you. That's when you know you've done it right.”
Now in his 60s, might he stick around to win 400? Or more?
“I don't plan on going anywhere,” he said, “so we'll see what happens.”
