Cottonwood football: Coach Greg Croshaw profile

In late August, I interviewed new Cottonwood (Utah) football coach Greg Croshaw. Here is the article that will appear in the team's 2012 football media guide.

Greg Croshaw:

Colts find character, stability, success

in their fourth coach in four years

By Bruce Smith

Matchup

             For the last several seasons, Cottonwood High School has achieved great success with its football program. Off the field, however, there has been great disappointment.

            When it was looking for a new coach last spring, the administration was looking for a couple of critical traits: Character and stability. They found that in Greg Croshaw.
            In late June, the 63 year-old coach became the ninth person to lead the Colts – and the fourth in the last four years. It marks the first time Croshaw has anchored a high-school program. His enthusiasm and “old-school” demand of personal accountability once again made the difference.
            “I’ve had a lot of Cottonwood kids play for me (at Dixie Junior College),” Croshaw said. “I knew about this school’s history and what it has accomplished.
            "My No. 1 concern is for the well-being of these kids. Whatever it takes to put them in as comfortable a position as possible, I'm going to do. We’re basically starting over.”
            Croshaw has dealt with that on a daily basis. The tragic events that have affected the football team have been well chronicled locally.
            In just over two years, Cottonwood’s head coach (Teko Johnson) and an assistant (Mike Gallegos) have died. Josh Lyman, who took over for Johnson, and another assistant (Eric Eyre) were forced to resign and the team’s longest-tenured assistant and benefactor, Scott Cate, was removed from the program.
            “I really don’t know any of those people, but I know it’s had a big effect on the kids,” said Croshaw. “Our seniors are a tough group … they’ve had to be.”
            If that’s the case, they should have a lot in common with their new coach.
            Croshaw grew up in Seattle and played linebacker under coach Sark Arslanian at Weber State. Later, he served as a graduate assistant at BYU, where he earned his Master’s degree.
            Croshaw, however, is best known for leading Dixie’s program for 24 seasons. He won 214 games at the St. George school and currently has the second-most wins of any JC coach in America. He left Dixie in 2005, served as defensive coordinator for Pine View High’s football team and most recently headed Mesa (Ariz.) Community College’s program.
            “It’s really been a whirlwind,” Croshaw said. “This will be a great new adventure.”
            For Croshaw, much of his life has been adventurous and those experiences have helped create his demeanor. In short, he knows a lot about football on and off the field. After college, he played briefly for the Green Bay Packers during their glory days in the late 1960s. He also spent some time with the Canadian Football League’s British Columbia Lions.
            “I wasn’t there long, but those were great experiences,” he said. “Vince Lombardi signed my checks. If I only knew then how valuable his autograph would be now … I wouldn’t have cashed them.”
            The real caveat of accepting the Cottonwood job, though, was a chance to be near his children. Croshaw and his wife, Doris, have four kids and seven grandkids. Most live in the Salt Lake City area. Croshaw still owns a home in St. George, but the last year in the Phoenix area was difficult – personally and professionally.
            Like the Colts, Croshaw hopes he will rise again to the occasion. Individually, the team is one of the most talented in the state and, in his days at Dixie, Croshaw was able to mold those types of players and win. In fact, in those 24 years, Dixie’s worst record was 5-5.
            He admitted that – at first – the team had a long way to go.
            “We have a nice field, a nice press box and weight room, but we didn’t even have any footballs at our first practice,” he said. “We need to get our priorities straight in order to win football games.”
            By the first game, he said the Colts had come a long way and he feels they will continue to move forward, despite a difficult schedule.
            Winning is expected here – and by Croshaw – and everyone involved must heal, too.