The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Step out of comfort zone helped Grubich in long run
They say one of the best modes of personal growth is to get outside of your comfort zone and experience new surroundings.
Kenston football coach Jeff Grubich will certainly attest to that.
Grubich will lead his Bombers into a Division III state semifinal Nov. 23 against Columbus Eastmoor Academy. If not for stepping outside of his comfort zone – and not exactly at his wishes – he might still be the defensive backs coach for the Mentor Cardinals.
The year was 2006. The Cardinals were gearing up for what eventually turned into a 13-2 season and a state runnerup finish to Hilliard Davidson in the Division I state championship game.
A relative newbie to the Mentor staff, Grubich was the defensive backs coach and was excited about the hand he was dealt.
“I had a good group of defensive backs, guys like Ryan Dugan, Nate Wilson and Ryan Mack,” Grubich said, rattling off the names with ease despite the dozen years that have passed since that year.
Mentor coach Steve Trivisonno had other plans.
“Triv goes, ‘It’s time for you to move to the offensive side of the ball,’” Grubich reminisced. “I didn’t really want to. I had been with this group through their JV years, and we had taken some lumps. We were ready.”
Then Grubich remembered the conversation he had with Trivisonno when he was first hired at Mentor. Green behind the ears, with his only coaching experience being as a graduate assistant at the University of Toledo, Grubich had big dreams.
“He asked me if I ever wanted to be a head coach,” Grubich said. “I said yes. And he said, ‘Stick with me, and I’ll get you ready.’”
Trivisonno chuckles when thinking back to those conversations. He remembers them all, especially the one where he asked Grubich to move from
defense to offense.
“If you want to be a head coach, you’ve got to learn the whole thing,” Trivisonno said. “I remember when I told him I wanted him to move, he said, ‘Naw, I’ll stay here with the defensive backs,’ but it was time for him to be the receivers coach. He had to learn how to do it all.”
Now Grubich DOES have it all.
Not only did his defense shut down the vaunted running game of Canfield in the program’s first regional championship appearance since 1995 — when Grubich was a spry 18-year-old senior at Chagrin Falls — but his offense at Kenston is a video game highlight reel.
Through 13 games, Kenston (12-1) is averaging 428 yards and 41 points per game.
Kenston has a shutdown defense.
The Bombers have the best offense in The NewsHerald coverage area.
In short, the complete coach has a complete team.
All because he got out of his comfort zone when he really didn’t want to.
“It’s all part of the plan,” Grubich said of his tutelage under Trivisonno. “You trust the guy who has been there before, and he coached me up.”
Growing up in Chagrin Falls, Grubich always knew he wanted to be a football coach. He couldn’t handle the thought of sitting in a cubicle day after day in the business world.
But the GA job at Toledo got him thinking, too.
“I realized I like to golf and hunt,” Grubich said. “If you’re a college coach, you don’t have time to do that stuff.”
So he focused on high school. When he got a teaching job at Euclid, Trivisonno snapped him up on his staff at Mentor.
“He had all the qualities you want – he’s extremely intelligent, a hard worker and knows the game,” Trivisonno said. “He has always been a student of the game. So am I surprised where he is right now? No.”
Grubich hit the gamut at Mentor, starting as defensive backs coach, moving over to receivers, and eventually sharing offensive coordinator duties with the late Don Andersen before taking over as the lone OC his last year at Mentor.
Through the process, there were a number of head-coaching jobs that came up around the region. Many piqued Grubich’s interest, and he bounced them all off Trivisonno.
“He and his dad, Papa Triv, really took me under their wing,” Grubich said of the late Joe Trivisonno. “If I’d ask about a job, Triv was honest. It was either, ‘Hey, you’re not ready yet,’ or ‘That’s not a good fit for you.’”
But when the Kenston job opened in 2011, Trivisonno pointed to the door.
Grubich was ready – AND it was a good fit.
On Nov. 16, teacher and pupil found themselves at the same level in their respective regional championship games. While Trivisonno’s Cardinals fell to St. Edward in the Division I, Region 1 final, Grubich’s Bombers advanced to the program’s first state final four in 23 years.
Within minutes after the game, Grubich looked at his ringing cell phone. It was his mentor from Mentor.
“His game HAD to have just ended, and he called me,” Grubich said. “That meant a lot to me.”
Said Trivisonno of the immediate call: “I always check right after our game to see how Grube did. I take a lot of pride in what he’s done and what he’s doing. It’s pretty cool. It’s like a proud poppa experience watching your kid do well.”
Trivisonno said he is unsure if he and his wife will make the trip to New Philadelphia for Kenston’s state semifinal against Columbus Eastmoor, with it being the Thanksgiving weekend and all.
But he vowed if Grubich and the Bombers play for a state title, he will be there.
No doubt, memories of the early years will come zooming back to both of them.
“I wouldn’t be where I am without that experience with him,” Grubich said. “One thing he always tells his teams at Mentor is, ‘Never forget where you came from.’
“I never will.”
Kampf can be reached via email at JKampf@NewsHerald.com; On Twitter @ NHPreps or @JKBuckeyes