by Kevin Byrne
Football coach Greg Wallace became head coach for the Pioneers in 1986 and today only two Pioneer head coaches have longer tenures at their positions. (Cross country and track coaches Will and Evelyn Freeman have been with their teams since 1980.) Wallace, who has also coached the men’s golf team since 1992, led Grinnell to the 1998 MWC Title and the most wins in a single season in school history. The S&B caught up with Wallace last week, fresh off of his team’s 6-4 2004 campaign.
Q. Why Grinnell? How did you end up here?
A. I was at Center College in Kentucky for 10 years before I came here, and Center is a very good academic school. As far as being a head coach, I was looking for a school with that kind of reputation, and Grinnell was one of those schools that appealed to me.
Q. When you got here, did you plan on staying for the long haul?
A. No, I had no idea it would be this long. At the time I came, I had two sons that were in the elementary grades and Grinnell was a great city to raise kids. My wife works in the libraries of all three elementary schools now, so it was kind of a nice match for us.
Q. What’s changed about the sport and the place since you first arrived?
A. I think one of the big things is that it is not only acceptable to win at Grinnell now, but it’s something that we all are striving to do. I’m not sure that maybe that was the situation when I first came. But I think that one of the things that really catapulted athletically was when the women’s basketball team won a conference championship in the early 90s. I think that there was a change on campus at that time; there were a lot of differences. The men’s basketball program and the football team had not won in a number of years leading into the 90s and that’s not necessarily the case now.
Q. What’s stayed the same?
A. I would say the leadership in the athletic department. I think that Coach Fairchild is the best person I’ve ever worked with or worked under as far as coaching is concerned and she has continued to strive to raise our level of play. Her leadership has been the key thing over the long run.
Q. Best thing about coaching?
A. I still love to go to practice.
Q. Toughest thing about coaching?
A. Probably the recruiting because it’s such a tough business. It’s not something where you can wait for the students to come to you. We spend hour upon hour on the phone trying to recruit students here.
Q. Most memorable game?
A. The game in 1994 when we beat Coe College. The year before they had trounced us and really took it to us. They had a running back that set a national record running against us and we hadn’t beaten Coe is something like 20 years. We came back and upset them at Coe, and it was just an unbelievable experience.
Q. Coaching is widely regarded as one of the most stressful jobs there is. How does one handle it for as long as you have?
A. If you don’t have an outlet, you’re in big trouble. Whether it be fishing, hunting or golfing, you have to have some other enjoyment outside of the coaching aspect. Otherwise, you’re probably going to burn out.
Q. Have any game day superstitions or rituals?
A. Yeah I do. I usually wear the same clothes, the same shoes, the same slacks; it’s just one of those things that you get in the habit of doing.
Q. What do you think is the role of football on a college campus?
A. I think it’s a great outlet for a number of individuals. I think that after being in the classroom and dealing with the rigors of the academic programs here, I think football provides a great deal of stress relief for a number of our players. There’s a camaraderie that happens among football players that is a special thing.
Q. What is your take on your 6-4 season? Was it a success?
A. I think it was a great season for us. You always go into a season hoping for the best and you would like to play for the championship. We knew that we maybe weren’t quite that good, but we felt we had a good nucleus of a team coming into the season. We had some seniors with injuries and we were forced to make some changes but I think with the coaching staff that we had and the senior leadership, we were able to rebound and get the train on the right tracks. It was a very enjoyable season to coach, from the very first practice all the way to the last.
Q. What about next year?...lots of senior shoes to fill.
A. That’s a huge void. We’ve got to recruit some great talent going into next year and they need to be in the skill positions. We have an all-conference type quarterback coming back [Sean Pfalzer ‘07] but if he doesn’t have anyone to block for him or catch to ball, it would be tough to be an all-conference player again. On the defensive side, we return a very good nucleus. We’ve got to fill some slots, but we made some really great strides on the defensive side of the football down the stretch and it’s going to help carry us over into next year.
Q. What do you want to do when you’re done coaching?
A. I guess I don’t want to think about it. I still enjoy coaching so much right now that I feel like I’m kind of in withdrawals once the season’s over when it gets to be 4:30 in the afternoon.
Since Greg Wallace became head coach of the Grinnell football program, Bill Parcells has coached four teams in the NFL, the nation has been through five presidential elections, and, starting next year, the majority of Wallace’s recruits will have been born. A look at Wallace’s record with Grinnell:
1986: 3-5
1987: 1-7
1988: 2-6
1989: 3-6
1990: 0-8-1
1991: 2-7
1992: 0-9
1993: 0-9
1994: 4-5
1995: 4-5
1996: 4-5
1997: 5-5
1998: 10-0
1999: 7-3
2000: 5-5
2001: 5-5
2002: 4-6
2003: 3-7
2004: 6-4
Glory Years: How many times has Grinnell gone undefeated in school history? Turns out, only four: the 10-0 1998 campaign, a 7-0-1 season in 1962, an 8-0 mark in 1917, and, of course, Grinnell’s famous 1-0 season in 1889.
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