Corrick resigns as SMCA AD
Steps down after five years, will remain school’s baseball coach
Known for keeping God first, Greg Corrick just had a positive way of reaching others around him.
While serving as the backbone of the athletic department at Southern Maryland Christian Academy since 2011, Corrick showed commitment, dedication, built numerous relationships and interacting with teachers, coaches and student-athletes on a daily basis.
But after much thought and consideration, Corrick recently resigned as the school’s athletic director after a five-year stint. He remained as the acting athletic director until the end of the school year, which ended officially on Thursday. A search for a new athletic director is ongoing.
Due to the high demands of the job and personal health concerns, Corrick felt that it was time to step away from the position.
Despite not being the school’s athletic director, Corrick will remain head varsity baseball coach that he helped build from the ground up along with
the athletic department.
“This is definitely sad for me to leave good people. I’ve had so many memories at Southern Maryland,” he said. “It has been a great five years, but I just couldn’t handle the demands of the job and the long hours. I’m excited to start a new chapter.”
Three days before Christmas in 2014, Corrick survived a life-threatening scare after suffering a massive heart attack while undergoing routine surgery on his right shoulder at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore.
“I was in the recovery room and I started having chest pains. It was a scar y moment for me I nearly died,” Corrick said. “The doctors were able to save my life within a half hour. They placed a stent in my heart to open up the blockages. That made me realize that I take my health more seriously and just spend more time with my family. It was just a blessing to still be here and survive that.”
Now 1 1/2 years since Corrick’s life-changing situation, he has focused on staying healthy and wants to possibly going back into
the turf management or sports field maintenance professions.
Corrick previously worked as an assistant golf course superintendent at Breton Bay Golf and Country Club in Leonardtown for six years.
“I would like to get back in that field of work, that’s what I like to do,” said Corrick. “Being an [athletic director] just wore me down physically and it was stressful at times.”
Corrick’s longtime friend Jerry Nelson, whose helped out Corrick with athletic duties at the school, was a huge support system for him during his recovery stage following the heart attack.
“It was sad when I heard that Greg was not going to be the athletic director at our school anymore,” Nelson said. “But I’m behind him in whatever he does no matter what. He is a kind-hearted person and he poured out his blood, sweat and tears to the athletic department. He’s done so much for the school and put in a lot of work. I was thanking God that Greg was at the hospital at the time of his heart attack. Everything turned out very good and he recovered well.”
Corrick as the athletic director he would work 12- to 14-hour days for five to six days a week that consisted of field maintenance, scheduling, uniform inventory, equipment and providing student-athletes the proper transportation to get to and from games.
“Greg is a quality coach and even a better man,” Southern Maryland Christian head boys soccer coach Matt Gaines said. “He has a great love of God, kids and sports all wrapped up together, which made him a great fit for [SMCA]. He will be hard to replace, but I was relieved to hear that he was staying on as the baseball coach.”
Corrick, a 1992 graduate of Glenelg High School in Howard County, helped lead the Southern Maryland Christian baseball program to back-to-back Maryland Independent School Athletic League titles in 2014 and 2015.
And as a new member of the Old Line Conference this spring, he propelled the Mustangs to a regular season conference crown. They finished with a 21-8 overall and 9-1 in conference play.
“Everything has just been a testament to the help of the administration and the coaches,” Corrick said. “Athletics has really grown from where we first started and it is going to get even better.”