Grutchfield to be inducted into Mass. Coaches Hall of Fame
Friday October 01, 1999

By Kevin O'Malley
Staff Writer 


At the conclusion of his second least successful basketball
season in 29 years of coaching the Fitchburg High boys'
basketball team, Doug Grutchfield reached a milestone few
coaches in any sport ever accomplish when he recorded his
500th win as the Red Raiders' guiding force.

Reaching the 500-win plateau is the equivalent of hitting
3,000 hits over a major league baseball career. Both take
many, many years to accomplish, and both usually serve as a
prequel to hall of fame inductions.

On Saturday, October 9, Grutchfield will take that leap,
joining University of Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, Lenox
High coach Fred LaFave and Nauset High coach Leo Miller as
the newest inductees to the Massachusetts Basketball Coaches
Association Hall of Fame.

"He's the guru," commented B.F. Brown coach Mike
Baltier. "The guy's a genius and I don't like using that
word, but he is a genius. The Hall of Fame is something that
was inevitable for him."

In 29 years at Fitchburg, the Red and Gray have won 20
league championships, seven Central Mass. championships and
made the finals of the state tournament once.

Along the way, Grutchfield has defeated a lot of different
teams, but none bigger than the defending state champs from
Springfield Central, which fell to Fitchburg, 57-54 in the
state semifinals in 1992. With current Indiana Pacer point
guard Travis Best and former UMass point guard great Edgar
Padilla in the backcourt, Springfield had won 48 road games
before running into the Red Raiders. Fitchburg went on to
lose to South Boston in the state finals that year, but sent
Zack McCall on to the Boston Shootout, the only Red Raider
to ever play in the prestigious national high school
all-star game.

One of the winningest coaches in the history of
Massachusetts high school basketball, Grutchfield has
amassed an overall record of 575-193, having coached at
Amherst Regional and Belmont High prior to taking over the
Red Raider reigns in 1970. He was also named coach of the
year three times, in 1983, '88 and '92.

"We haven't had a lot of big superstars, but we have had
great teams that played together," explained Grutchfield in
a recent interview in his office at Fitchburg High, where
he's the school's athletic director. "A lot of our kids have
gone on to play college basketball, mostly at the Division
III level."

However, Grutchfield has had some of his players move onto
higher courts, as McCall is currently playing in Venezuela,
and Kevin Crumbley had a cup of coffee with the Seattle
franchise of the Continental Basketball Association.

More impressive, however, is the number of former players
that have followed in the large footsteps of Grutchfield,
and into the otherwise thankless profession of coaching
hoops.

Among his former players currently coaching is the assistant
women's basketball coach at Temple University, Darren
Bennett; Fitchburg State men's coaches Nick Pappas and Jack
Scott; Salem State men's coach Jeff Scott; and St.
Bernard's coach Mark Pierce.

Then there's Grutchfield's three children, who also all have
coached hoops at either the high school or college level.

"All the people that I work with know Doug is not impressed
with what he can do," added Baltier, who has coached 24
years at B.F. under Grutchfield. "He developed his own
system of coaching and his leadership keeps the people
around him. It's a testament to him that we stay around. I'm
a great admirer of his. He taught me a lot and I developed
my coaching style from him."

Baltier isn't the only one within the Fitchburg basketball
program who has logged many years with Grutchfield in
helping keep the program in tact, as Memorial Middle School
coach Bob Mundie is entering his 19th year there, and John
Cordio has occupied the seat next to Grutchfield for 26 of
the 29 seasons.

"John has been a very important part of all the successes we
have had. One of the keys to our success is that the whole
system has been intact for close to 20 years," explained
Grutchfield, who's quick to share accolades with his
longtime coaching partners. "They are all part of the
success."

As is the case of the so-called "Chinese" defense
Grutchfield developed and implemented at both middle school
programs, as well as the junior varsity and varsity programs
at Fitchburg.

"I think he named it the Chinese after the Chinese water
torture," explained Baltier, who has also had success with
the Chinese defense at the AAU level. "Water keeps dripping
on your head, eventually you break down. You see it happen
with Fitchburg High all the time. It'll be a close game
until sometime in the second half then Fitchburg blows them
away when the other team makes mistakes."

The system works because it is simple, effective and fun.

"I've been running essentially the same three drills
everyday that Doug gave me 24 years ago," said Baltier. "I
think it was Doug that first told me about sport-specific
drills when he told me not to waste gym time running wind
sprints and kids like playing basketball baseline to
baseline."

While his coaching career is legendary, his life before
coaching and job off the court are equally impressive, as
Grutchfield set 13 individual records during four years at
UMass garnering honors as an All-Conference, All-New
England, All-East and was named a Look Magazine
All-American.

Before attending UMass, Grutchfield earned all-scholastic
honors in both football and basketball at North Quincy High,
and has since been inducted into the North Quincy High
School Basketball Hall of Fame and the City of Quincy
Football Hall of Fame.

As the Athletics Director of Fitchburg High since 1984,
Grutchfield has added honors as the 1995 Massachusetts
Athletic Director of the Year, going on to win the Eastern
Region of the United States Athletic Director of the Year,
and won the National Athletic Director of the Year that same
year.

In March of 1998, Grutchfield was elected President of The
National Council of Secondary School Athletic Directors, and
last year, Grutchfield was named with National
Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association's
Distinguished Service Award.

Also last year, Grutchfield was twice invited to the White
House for meetings of the President's Council on Physical
Fitness, and was asked to be on a National Task Force
entitled "Building Character Through Sports."

"That was really quite an honor," noted Grutchfield of his
White House visits. "We got together in the Rose Garden and
then had a luncheon. I ended up being named to the National
Sports Task Force so that opened a lot of opportunties, and
I've continued to be involved with those national
organizations."

The Hall of Fame Banquet in the George Sherman Union Hall of
Boston University will kick off the 1999 MBCA All-Star
Weekend, and also include honoring the Coaches of the Year,
Assistant Coaches of the Year, and presentation of the
Victory Club Awards and Presidential Awards.

Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. after a cocktail
hour. The event costs $35 and tickets are available by
calling Kevin McDermott at (978) 667-0739.

The weekend will end on Sunday with a Coaches Clinic from
8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Boston University's Case Gymnasium,
with sessions by Paul Amorosino of Braintree Hospital, coach
Calhoun, Barbara Stevens of Bentley College, Joe Day of
Catholic Memorial High School, Paul Phillips of Clark
University and television analyst Clark Kellogg.

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