“Gridiron Coaches Clinic” offers comradery, fellowship for local coaches

‘It’s a great networking opportunity’

VINTON, Va. – William Byrd head football coach Brad Lutz organized the school’s first ever “Gridiron Coaches Clinic” on Saturday. The event, lasting throughout Saturday morning, was filled with speakers who have a wealth of knowledge and experience when it comes to the game of football.

“We just wanted an opportunity as a coaching staff to get better, and then we created an opportunity for not only the Roanoke area but surrounding areas to get better,” Lutz said. “It’s a great networking opportunity not just for high school coaches but college coaches too. We had 25 coaches here today speaking.”

Some of the coaches in attendance included Brad Glenn who recently accepted the offensive coordinator job at Cincinnati, Ferrum’s Cleive Adams in addition to local high school coaches like Heritage’s Brad Bradley and Radford’s Michael Crist.

“I think this function is phenomenal,” said AJ Hampton. He serves as the wide receiver coach and recruiting coordinator at nearby VMI. “It allows coaches like myself to listen to coaches with more experiences and also kind of speak about what I know and let them get to know me. As the recruiting coordinator at VMI, it allows me to develop relationships with the high school coaches so I think it’s very valuable in that sense.”

Topics of discussion ranged from culture to strength and conditioning, to X’s and O’s.


About the Authors:

Brooke Leonard is the newest addition to the 10 Sports team, joining in June 2019.

Eric is no stranger to the Roanoke Valley. He is a Roanoke native and proud graduate of William Fleming High School.