June 17, 2018
By Greg Ostendorf
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. -- There's a Father's Day card out there that defines father as "one who gives care and protection; who encourages, nurtures and teaches."
If that's the case, every member of Auburn's coaching staff should be considered a father. Some, such as defensive line coach Rodney Garner, have children of their own. Garner has six daughters at home. But every single one of them has kids on the football team that they're responsible for, kids that they "encourage, nurture and teach."
"Honestly, I'd like to be remembered for being a great father," Garner said. "That's something I take pride in. That's something that's very dear and important to me, and I hope that my girls -- I hope they feel that way. And then the same thing, I cherish the opportunity to be a coach because wearing that coach's hat, I do serve as a father for some of our student-athletes.
"That's something, too, that I don't take for granted. Just to be able to be that male figure hopefully in a positive light. Sometimes it may not be the most comfortable situation for them, but I hope that over time they always realize it was all about love."
J.B. Grimes has been coaching for nearly 40 years at the college level. He's made 13 stops along the way and has had multiple stints at three different schools. He'll be the first to tell you that being a husband and a father of four along the way hasn't always been easy.
But the Auburn offensive line coach, who is now a grandfather, beams with pride when talking about his kids and the fact that all four of them have college degrees.
"First of all -- this job, if you're not careful, it can consume you," Grimes said. "Part of this job is obviously moving and all those kind of things. When you've raised four kids and you made the moves like my wife and I have made, it makes being a father even more satisfying -- especially when you see your kids doing well."
Known for his tough, hard-nosed coaching style, it should come as no surprise that Grimes delivered one of his own children.
It was No. 4, and by that time, Grimes and his wife, Jennifer, were fairly experienced in the process of having a baby. So when everything was prepped in the hospital and the doctor -- who was their neighbor at the time in Fayetteville, Arkansas -- looked at him and asked if he wanted to deliver the baby, Grimes said "Sure, let me at it."
"Slipperiest thing I've ever held onto in my life," he says now. "It was like `Wow.' It was very fulfilling. I'll say that."
There's another story, a story Grimes is less proud of, when he thought he had time to take a quick shower before taking his wife to the hospital. As a result, his wife nearly had their third child on their living room floor in Louisiana, but Grimes was able to pick her up, put her in the car and get her to the hospital in the nick of time.
"I got myself in lifelong trouble over that decision to take a shower," Grimes said.
His experience as a father, and especially now as a grandfather, it's helped Grimes deal with his players better. It's changed his approach to coaching. He's not given in or eased up on the details and what it takes to be a good player at his level. But it's given him perspective in how to deal with young men and what they're going through.
"It's building that relationship and not worried about them seeing my soft side," Grimes said. "I don't care. I want them to see my soft side. I want them to feel that off the field. They're not going to feel that on the field. But off the field, I want them to know that there is a side to me that's a father, that's a husband, that's a grandfather."
Growing up with Travis Williams as your father, knowing the Auburn fight song is just like knowing your ABCs. You better know it early.
Williams and his wife Jeanine, a fellow Auburn graduate, have three daughters -- Tru (7), Reign (2) and Brave (5 months). Reign, shown below, already knows the fight song and still won't eat her peas unless Williams or his wife go "Warrrrr Eagle" while moving the spoon like an airplane.
-- Coach T-Will (@T_WILL4REAL) May 2, 2018
But there's more to being a father than passing along a fight song.
"It means responsibility," Williams said. "That's one job I'm responsible for that I can't fail at that. You can probably make a bad call or anything with football that can go wrong, but you can't fail at being a father. So that's the most important thing to me. Just being there for my daughters and just having daughters and having them see what a father looks like, what a husband looks like. Just being there for them, that's No. 1."
What's that look like for Williams? It's turning on his computer every day and seeing a picture of his three daughters staring back at him as the screensaver. It's seeing his oldest daughter, Tru, baptized a few weeks back after she made the decision to give her life to Christ.
"Just seeing her and what the Lord is doing in her life, that's one thing as a parent -- that's the ultimate," Williams said. "As far as being happy for her and seeing her growth."
It also transcends to the football field where Williams has a similar responsibility with his players. Maybe it's a student-athlete who has both parents, and it's his job to continue the foundation that's already been set. Maybe it's a student-athlete with no father figure, and it's his job to be that person they can go to and rely on.
Regardless of the situation, Williams is there for his players.
"I'm not here just to be a football coach, and I understand that," he said. "I understand there's a bigger responsibility. And if you're here just thinking about Xs and Os, you're missing the mark. You're failing the guy tremendously. It's got to be bigger than that."
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf