DCS Athletics

From the June 16 issue of The Dillon Herald- by Chris Clark

Dillon Christian School Hires New AD/Head Football Coach

(picture by Craig Brown)

It is widely understood that big-time college football is in many ways a business, while high school football is still the exciting hometown root of the sport that so many people love.

Well, as of this week, Rodney Griggs is leaving his place in the business world in the capital of South Carolina to return to the first job he ever loved — high school football coach and athletic director. Dillon Christian School — fresh off of two back-to-back South Carolina Independent Schools Association Class A State Titles — has hired Griggs to be its first multi-role athletic director, head football coach and physical education teacher.

Griggs comes to DCS from Columbia, where he has been in business since 2000, having previously coached at Roy Hudgens Academy in Lynchburg, Thomas Sumter Academy in Dalzell, Robert E. Lee Academy in Bishopville and Williamsburg Academy in Kingstree. Kelly Williamson, and his coaching staff, led the DCS football program for its first 7 seasons. But, once the athletic director's position opened up for the coming school year, the DCS Board Of Directors asked Williamson to step down from his position so that a full-time athletic director/head football coach position might be established.

DCS football is 2-1 all-time in state championships, including back-to-back 12-1 records the past two seasons, losing only to cross-county opponent Lake View High School in each season.

Griggs — a native of Cheraw who played football at Newberry College — knows the nature of football here in the Pee Dee Region of South Carolina. And having been athletic director at both Williamsburg Academy and Elloree High School, he knows the inner workings of a high school athletic department.

“Coach Griggs has a significant amount of coaching and athletic department experience, but we also looked at Christian faith and character in this hiring process; and he meets those requirements for sure,” DCS Headmaster John Davis said. “He has expressed his passion about three things – faith, family and football.“As a football coach, everybody we talked with says he knows the game well and is a great tactician. He is known as a players' coach, one who gets in there and motivates them well, having them prepared to be at their very best. He is very personable and wants to see all kids in the school succeed, not just the athletes.”

With 14 seniors having graduated from this past season's Warriors football team, both Griggs and Davis know that expectations are for a rebuilding year on the field.“We want the rest of SCISA to respect the discipline and Christian attitude our program will play with,” Griggs said. “Dillon is a football town and my hometown of Cheraw is too. We want to continue that winning tradition. We will fight everybody for four quarters, then shake their hands.“We're going to run our scheme and do our best, no matter who we are playing.”

Griggs has coached 10-win teams, as well as 10-loss teams. Even so, one team in his past that he is most proud of was a team at Andrews Academy, when nobody expected them to win. That team went 8-3, including an upset of highly-ranked Williamsburg.
“The biggest thing for me with coaching is to win the ones you are supposed to win and put yourself in position to win the ones you aren't supposed to win,” Griggs said.

Davis plans to meet with parents of DCS football players and introduce them to Griggs, so that the program can set up SCISA-approved workouts for the rest of this month. Since the spring workout period began, previous assistant coaches Steve Johnson and Christian Wolfe have helped guide the players in their workouts.“I think we were surprised with how many applicants we had for this position,” Davis said. “But, as the Board of the school, we didn't want to make the hire until we knew we'd found the person God wanted for our school.”

The timing was perfect for Griggs, who enjoyed some success in the business world before the recent economic downturn.
“Things went really well for a while, but I decided recently that I needed to make a change and go back to what I love,” Griggs said. “I knew in the 8th grade that I wanted to be a coach. I went into the Army for two years, before I coached for years and then did this business thing for a while. But I've always loved coaching.“I'm an old PE, Science and Health teacher, and I've always loved that. In PE classes I always like to give the students turns to be a major part of the class, whether it's picking teams or helping lead an activity. All the students, not just the athletes.”
Griggs points to former Cheraw football coach Burney Bourne as an early inspiration for him to become a coach. Bourne, who led Cheraw to 2 state football titles and one runner-up season in his 35 years of coaching, recently retired from coaching after a seven-year stint leading the program at Waccamaw High School.

As for his relationship with Dillon over the years, Griggs says his time playing for Newberry College included “playing alongside Dillon greats” including Glen Edge, Vernon Grimsley, Stevie Lee and Kenny Cook. (see Newberry College sports story at right)
“Those guys were great examples of what Dillon football has been about for many years,” Griggs said. “And I've always been a great admirer of (the late) Marion “Bull” Lee. I know he has passed, but he was probably the best ever, if you ask me.”
Griggs has three children, including a 26-year-old daughter, an 18-year-old son and a 13-year-old son who will be moving to Dillon with Griggs and his wife. Davis and Griggs will soon be looking to add more assistant coaches for football, along with evaluating coaching positions in all other sports at DCS.

 

 

Go Warriors!!!