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Greg Goff talks hurriedly, but politely on the phone from behind his desk. Sitting in his office at Coleman Coliseum, Alabama’s new head baseball coach has a perfect view of the recently renovated Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
The sparking ballpark offers nice scenery, but it also serves a reminder of all the work he has to accomplish this summer.
In his first week in Tuscaloosa, Goff has made the rounds. If he isn’t at a luncheon or on a recruiting call, he is most likely working to put the final touches on next year’s schedule or filling out the remaining holes in his coaching staff.
Despite his hectic schedule, Goff took some time to sit down with The Anniston Star and discuss his coaching career and his first week at the Capstone.
Question: In your time coaching, what is the one lesson you’ve learned that you carry over the most?
Answer: I think more than anything it’s the relationships you build, whether it’s players, coaches or friends. I just think that as I’ve gone through this career for 21 years, I’ve just learned that those relationships are so important. Players don’t just play for you for four years. It’s more than a four-year relationship. It’s more like a 40-year relationship is what I’ve figured out.
Q: You’ve mentioned family a lot. How do you dig deep and build that family bond with your players?
A: That’s the thing I’ve been able to do at all the programs I’ve been at. I think it starts with me, and I’m kind of like a dad. You got to demand that you got to respect your brother or your sister. I want our players to respect one another, and I want them to love one another.
Q: You just brought in Louisiana Tech hitting coach Jake Wells with you on your staff. With your family approach, do you find it easier to work with guys that you know?
A: No doubt. I was an assistant for a long time, and I want assistants that can handle how I coach and the expectations. We are up here a lot, and you know it’s very demanding for people who work on my staff because I’m here all the time. ... It is comforting to know that I have a guy that has been on my staff or played for me to be around me.
Q: You have four daughters, Kara, Kiley, Kolby and Kenzie. They all begin with K (the letter used to indicate a strikeout in the scorebook). As a baseball guy, is there a correlation?
A: You, know it is! I’m a pitching coach, so it’s K, K, K, K. When we started having kids, I wanted them all to start with K. I didn’t know I’d have four of them, so I guess I got an extra K in there somewhere.
Q: You’ve coached in Alabama before at the University of Montevallo, but is there anything that has surprised you in your return to the state?
A: I’ve just been so overwhelmed by the generosity of the people. We had friends here, and we lived here for four years, but just seeing the generosity and the support and the people that want to help this transition is overwhelming to me. People have just went beyond what we would have ever expected to help us.
Q: You had to survive a storm on your first day, losing two juniors from the team to the draft and having a commit flip to Auburn. How much of a roller coaster was that day, and what was it like?
A: It was just a great day. It was an emotional day for me, leaving a great program like (Louisiana) Tech. We weren’t expecting to leave after two years, and then we get this opportunity of a lifetime. All those emotions were going. The deal with the recruits and players, we want people that want to be here. If there’s a young man that doesn’t want to hold his commitment up and wants to do something else, then so be it. We want players that want to play for the University of Alabama and get us to Omaha.
Q: You’ve reached out to a bunch of coaches for advice. Who gave you the best advice, and what did they say?
A: Coach (Keith) Madison (former Kentucky head coach during Goff’s time there as an assistant). He’s a guy that that I’ve kind of leaned on my whole career. He just said, “Don’t get caught up in the moment, enjoy the moment and enjoy the time, because you earned it. Just make sure that you treat people with respect and integrity and don’t make it bigger than what it really is.”
Q: You wear No. 39. Is there a reason behind that?
A: When I first started coaching, everybody took all the good numbers. And, hey, I want my players to come first. If we go into a restaurant, my players are going to get served before me. My first year, 39 was left, so I just grabbed it.
Q: You’ve mentioned yourself as an underdog. Do you embrace that role, that maybe some people haven’t heard of you and didn’t expect you to get this job or jobs in the past?
A: Oh, yeah. It’s just a mentality that I’ve always taken. When I walk in this office every day, I come in with a purpose. I come in here with an edge, and I love that part of it. Our players are going to play like that. There’s going to be a lot of people that don’t expect the University of Alabama to win the SEC. I do.
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The sparking ballpark offers nice scenery, but it also serves a reminder of all the work he has to accomplish this summer.
In his first week in Tuscaloosa, Goff has made the rounds. If he isn’t at a luncheon or on a recruiting call, he is most likely working to put the final touches on next year’s schedule or filling out the remaining holes in his coaching staff.
Despite his hectic schedule, Goff took some time to sit down with The Anniston Star and discuss his coaching career and his first week at the Capstone.
Question: In your time coaching, what is the one lesson you’ve learned that you carry over the most?
Answer: I think more than anything it’s the relationships you build, whether it’s players, coaches or friends. I just think that as I’ve gone through this career for 21 years, I’ve just learned that those relationships are so important. Players don’t just play for you for four years. It’s more than a four-year relationship. It’s more like a 40-year relationship is what I’ve figured out.
Q: You’ve mentioned family a lot. How do you dig deep and build that family bond with your players?
A: That’s the thing I’ve been able to do at all the programs I’ve been at. I think it starts with me, and I’m kind of like a dad. You got to demand that you got to respect your brother or your sister. I want our players to respect one another, and I want them to love one another.
Q: You just brought in Louisiana Tech hitting coach Jake Wells with you on your staff. With your family approach, do you find it easier to work with guys that you know?
A: No doubt. I was an assistant for a long time, and I want assistants that can handle how I coach and the expectations. We are up here a lot, and you know it’s very demanding for people who work on my staff because I’m here all the time. ... It is comforting to know that I have a guy that has been on my staff or played for me to be around me.
Q: You have four daughters, Kara, Kiley, Kolby and Kenzie. They all begin with K (the letter used to indicate a strikeout in the scorebook). As a baseball guy, is there a correlation?
A: You, know it is! I’m a pitching coach, so it’s K, K, K, K. When we started having kids, I wanted them all to start with K. I didn’t know I’d have four of them, so I guess I got an extra K in there somewhere.
Q: You’ve coached in Alabama before at the University of Montevallo, but is there anything that has surprised you in your return to the state?
A: I’ve just been so overwhelmed by the generosity of the people. We had friends here, and we lived here for four years, but just seeing the generosity and the support and the people that want to help this transition is overwhelming to me. People have just went beyond what we would have ever expected to help us.
Q: You had to survive a storm on your first day, losing two juniors from the team to the draft and having a commit flip to Auburn. How much of a roller coaster was that day, and what was it like?
A: It was just a great day. It was an emotional day for me, leaving a great program like (Louisiana) Tech. We weren’t expecting to leave after two years, and then we get this opportunity of a lifetime. All those emotions were going. The deal with the recruits and players, we want people that want to be here. If there’s a young man that doesn’t want to hold his commitment up and wants to do something else, then so be it. We want players that want to play for the University of Alabama and get us to Omaha.
Q: You’ve reached out to a bunch of coaches for advice. Who gave you the best advice, and what did they say?
A: Coach (Keith) Madison (former Kentucky head coach during Goff’s time there as an assistant). He’s a guy that that I’ve kind of leaned on my whole career. He just said, “Don’t get caught up in the moment, enjoy the moment and enjoy the time, because you earned it. Just make sure that you treat people with respect and integrity and don’t make it bigger than what it really is.”
Q: You wear No. 39. Is there a reason behind that?
A: When I first started coaching, everybody took all the good numbers. And, hey, I want my players to come first. If we go into a restaurant, my players are going to get served before me. My first year, 39 was left, so I just grabbed it.
Q: You’ve mentioned yourself as an underdog. Do you embrace that role, that maybe some people haven’t heard of you and didn’t expect you to get this job or jobs in the past?
A: Oh, yeah. It’s just a mentality that I’ve always taken. When I walk in this office every day, I come in with a purpose. I come in here with an edge, and I love that part of it. Our players are going to play like that. There’s going to be a lot of people that don’t expect the University of Alabama to win the SEC. I do.
Link
