Coach Profiles: Cody Gross of Athens High School
Jul. 21—Athens head coach Cody Gross enters another year at the helm of what he hopes is a battle-tested team by the end of the season, and also continues to support other sports while giving back to the community.
While he is responsible for the wins and losses of his team, Gross also feels a responsibility to the community.
Individuals such as Ron Oakley, former soccer coach of AHS, have mentioned that Gross was always more than willing to help with whatever the soccer team needed, as well as other sports.
Additionally, Gross has been a large factor in the football team hosting events such as their women's football camps.
His desire to help out the community and other sports comes from him playing multiple sports growing up.
While he was a prominent football player at Lauderdale County High School and UNA — winning multiple titles — back in his day, he was also an athlete in baseball and basketball.
"Ever since I could walk, I have played ball. You know, I love all sports. Football was the one for me, but I love them all," he said. "So, I want to support them all. I want it to be when Athens shows up people are like 'oh, shoot, here comes Athens.' Let's win at everything we do and let's be great at everything we do."
Football also runs in the family. He has multiple sons who have contributed to his Golden Eagles football family in one way or another.
This includes playing and coaching.
This also includes starting QB for the Golden Eagles this year, Brogan Gross.
"We (the family) are kind of around (the football facility) a good bit," Coach Gross said.
However, Coach Gross makes it clear the team is about more than just the QB, naming off players like Larry Howard in the secondary, Jayshon Ridgle at receiver and Kameron Gatewood at running back, among many more players, as individuals who will contribute significantly to the team's success
For his football team, they have many games on the schedule that will test the Golden Eagles physically and mentally.
Gross purposefully scheduled opponents he believed would give them tough games, while also believing that top competition is simply inevitable with their region.
He is of the mindset that playing tough opponents leads to a tough team themselves.
"This region has always been tough," he said. "The thing about our region is this: You better show up to play every week. If you do, you got a chance to win; if you don't, you are probably going to lose. As a competitor, I couldn't ask for anything else. There's been a lot of years where you could take the teams in this region, throw them in a bag, shake it up, pour them out and go 'who's who?' I have a lot of respect for the coaches in this region."
Athens' region includes the likes of Hartselle, Muscle Shoals, Cullman, Decatur and Columbia.
Athens will play a jamboree game on Aug. 12 vs. the Philip Rivers-led St. Michael Catholic School.
Their first regular season game will take place on Aug. 18 vs. East Limestone.
