mdotson98 10 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 COACH OF THE YEAR: Hurley's Tester homegrown By Tim Hayes Published: January 21, 2011 » 0 Comments | Post a Comment vote nowBuzz up! HURLEY, Va. -- A couple of inches of snow covered the football field at Hurley High School earlier this week. Icicles hung from the protruding large slab of rock that neighbors the field and has given the unique stadium the moniker of “The Cliff.†But the remnants of a memorable season that concluded two months earlier still lingered. Signs urging on the Rebels were still on the fences surrounding the end zone and the positive vibe Hurley produced this past fall was easy to detect. Greg Tester, the Hurley boss and the Bristol Herald Courier’s 2010 prep football coach of the year, took a few moments to reflect. “We had a great season,†Tester said. “I was fortunate to have the group of ballplayers that I had. We had 11 in this senior class and they were all leaders. Most of them were four-year starters for me leading up to this point. … It was a pretty special group of players and to get this honor, you’ve got to have some good players. Another thing, I had a great coaching staff. Those guys don’t get a lot of credit, but we really worked well together and I had some good guys.†For Tester it was the culmination of an impressive turnaround. The team went 0-10 in his first season as head coach back in 2006 but steadily improved. The 2010 season featured seven wins, a berth in the Region D, Division 1 playoffs for the first time in five years and after a hard-fought playoff loss to J.I. Burton, some new respect for the program. Tester couldn’t be more proud of how things have transpired at his alma mater. “It’s got a special place in your heart, where you played ball at and where you went to school at,†Tester said. “Your hometown is always in your heart and that’s where you want to be at most of the time.†For the 32-year-old Tester, the road leading back home featured plenty of stops along the way. Tester’s travels Miami, Florida. Blacksburg, Virginia. Wise, Virginia. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Those are just some of the blips on Tester’s football roadmap. The starting point was Hurley, where he was a star for the Rebels and finished with 4,225 career rushing yards. Short and stocky, his speed was deceptive but he also showcased toughness. Just ask any linebacker that met him in the hole. His senior year in 1996, Hurley reached the regional finals with the hard-charging Tester leading the way. He had wanted to attend Virginia Tech, but ended up away from home. A long way from home. Tester ventured to Coral Gables, Fla., and made the team at the University of Miami – which featured future NFL stars Santana Moss and Edgerrin James – as a freshman walk-on. “I went down there for about a month and went through camp,†Tester said. “I was homesick, 17 hours away from home, I was a little culture shocked. But it was a good experience. … I journeyed back the next semester to Virginia Tech.†He took a redshirt year for the Hokies and then made another choice, a decision that would turn out to be rather wise. He transferred to the University of Virginia’s College at Wise and quickly became the workhorse in the backfield for the Highland Cavaliers. His return to Southwest Virginia was a triumphant one. “I don’t regret nothing that I did,†Tester said. “UVa.-Wise was a smaller school and it was a perfect fit for me.†After completing his career at UVa.-Wise, he played two seasons for the Myrtle Beach Stingrays of the National Indoor Football League. “After those two years, I knew I was done and I was going to have to do something to fill that void, because football’s a big part of my life,†Tester said. “I decided to give my old head coach, Wayne Hall, a call and he said he’d like for me to come and help out. I came back and after getting a teaching job and helping him out two or three years before he resigned and then I took over.†Winless to winners Things weren’t easy the first year Tester was in charge. That fall saw his overmatched team get handed losses by scores of 56-0, 50-0 and 58-6. The Rebels scored just 44 points all season. “I was kind of like, ‘what’d I get myself into here?’ †Tester said. “But I was an assistant two or three years before that and had lost a good group of seniors [from the 2005 team]. I knew what I was facing. I looked at some of these guys that were on the JV team and it was the seniors that I had this group. I knew they were going to be something special and they turned out to be.†The struggles were hard to take, but Tester accepted the challenge. It made him work that much harder. Tester became a sponge for information and sought out veteran coaches like Grundy’s Greg Rowe and Greg Mance of Richlands for advice. Plus his former coaches at UVa.-Wise – Bill Ramseyer and Bruce Wasem – were there for support. “I just try to take a little from everywhere and everybody that I have been around,†Tester said. “The sky is the limit for knowledge and you can never know too much and you have to learn to take advice and criticism to become a better coach.†A 3-7 season followed that first year debacle, then campaigns that ended with 6-4 and 7-3 records. In 2010, it all came together. The Rebels relied on a balanced attack with quarterback Austin Cooper emerging as a star with wide receiver Dustin Waynick his top target. William Rawlins was a talented running back and led the Rebels in rushing. Defensively, lineman John Layne was among the Black Diamond District’s best. Tester also gives credit to his coaching staff – Brandon Davis, Anthony Church, Travis Quinley, Chad Cooper and his former mentor, Hall – for the success. Plenty of Sundays were spent reviewing film and undergoing endless skull sessions for the upcoming foe. “He was here on Sundays for 10, 12 hours,†Waynick said. “We’d be like ‘come on, you need to take some time off.’ He’s a real good coach.†Added Cooper, the QB: “It’s fun [to play for Tester]. He was a star at Hurley when he was here. It’s good to have him coaching. He knows what he’s doing. It’s a great atmosphere with him and he gets into the game.†Intense, his players said, would be a good way to describe their coach. “He’s a real high-temperature guy,†Waynick said. “He gets us up before games.†Happy at home Tester admits it’s been hard to watch the film of Hurley’s final game – a 24-8 setback to J.I. Burton in the regional semifinals. “I’ve watched it one time and I’ve never stuck it back in the VCR again.†Tester said. “These kids have watched it. I’m just now getting over it.†Few people gave Hurley a chance against Burton, a team that had played in the state title game a year earlier. People cited the Rebels’ weak schedule, saying they only played teams fromKentucky and West Virginia that weren’t heavyweights. That all changed when Hurley raced out to an 8-0 lead and held an 8-6 advantage over the Raiders when they were about to breach the end zone again just before the first half. However, they were snuffed out at the goal line and Burton used a long touchdown pass to take a halftime lead and swing the momentum. “I think we put up a good fight,†Tester said. “I go back and I want to call two or three different plays, but you can’t do it. That’s the hard part about it.†While it was a heartbreaking loss, it couldn’t overshadow the success of Tester’s team. And he’s truly happy at his current job in a familiar place. “It’s just, you know, it’s home,†he said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSocko 136 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 Congratulations! I hope with the good underclassmen that you have and the great group of coaches that's on your staff, that you can repeat your success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gridironguru 11 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 No one deserves this honor more than Greg Tester! Congratulations Coach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowdyredrebel 10 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 I told you, all along, keep that dream lit, and it will start a fire within....you kept pushing and pushing and it paid off....I am very proud of you, Greg. You never gave up. You deserve it! Congratulations, don't it feel good? Smile now! Love Ya! ya mean ole fart! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redtiger 1,742 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 Congrats Coach Tester, glad to see the BDD get some recognition and to see Hurley become a respectable program again. Hope you guys can keep it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogtalk 10 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Congrats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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