http://rutlandherald.com/article/20140430/SPORTS02/704309880/
Published April 30, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Harris is handed grid reigns in Springfield By Tom Haley STAFF WRITER SPRINGFIELD — Gary Harris knows that Springfield High’s football program is at rock bottom. But he has also done his research and knows the Cosmos are not that far removed from the good times. “They’ve got some history,” said Harris, noting the Division III state title the Cosmos won in 2008. Harris and his wife Selena are homegrown Tennesseeans. They live in the little town of Bon Aqua about 40 miles from Nashville. That begs the question: Why are he and Selena heading to Vermont where Gary will be taking the head football coaching position of the Cosmos? The answer goes way back. Back to when the 38-year-old Selena was a young girl learning her states and capitals in school. The more she found out about Vermont the more she fell in love with it. It became an idyllic land far from home and she never got it out of her head. Eight years ago she and Gary decided they had to see this place. “We came up and visited the Stowe area and Burlington,” Gary said. The dream was not shattered. The Green Mountain State measured up to the vision. They came up again and went to a Mill River football game at Oxbow. Gary has coached middle school football in Tennessee for years. He was intrigued by the atmosphere. “It was so much different. Football is life in Tennessee. The game at Oxbow was on a Saturday afternoon and the fans from both teams were on the same side. That would never happen in Tennessee,” he said. “But it was fun. Just a totally different atmosphere.” Springfield has struggled mightily of late, playing only at the JV level in 2012 and going winless after coming back as a varsity program in 2013. “The past is the past,” Harris said. Harris has had rebuilding projects before at the middle school level. He has taken programs at the bottom and helped mold them into unbeaten teams. He had chances to go to the high school level before, but he liked his situation coaching middle school. He and Selena were entrenched in the school and the community with their three children. But when he found out about the Springfield opening he felt it was time to make a move. “I sent my stuff in never thinking I was going to get an interview,” he said. He and Selena came to town. “We loved Springfield,” he said. Right now they have a house in Ludlow but they want their children in the Springfield schools. They have sons aged 13 and 10 and a 6-year-old girl. That means there are plenty of things to sort out. He plans on meeting with the football players on May 16. “We had a great pool of candidates. I thought that the second choice would have also been exceptional,” Springfield Athletic Director Joe Brown said. “I knew he was the guy. The committee saw it the same way.” Harris considers himself a run-first coach. He estimates the play ratio is about 65-35 in favor of the run. That does not mean he would not throw if he had the right player to pull the trigger. “I love to throw it, too, but you have to have the guy to do it,” the 41-year-old Harris said. He has been running out of a Double Wing with his offense in Tennessee. “We use a lot of misdirection and trick plays. We want to make it fun for the kids,” he said. Selena is a teacher and will be looking for a job. Gary works in corrections. Right now he has a position at the Marble Valley Correctional Facility in Rutland, but he would, of course, like to transfer to the prison in Springfield. “This move is more than about sports,” Harris said. “It’s about my wife’s dream of living there. The coaching is a bonus. “I am excited about getting going and getting the kids involved.” Springfield is not Bon Aqua but football is football. And someday Mount Mansfield Union High School coach Marty Richards, who has Tennessee roots and whose father played for the University of Tennessee, and Harris will likely have a good time reminiscing about football in the Volunteer State. But right now Gary Harris will have all of his focus on the Springfield Cosmos, There is a lot of work to do and he can’t wait to get started. The Cosmos open on Sept. 5 at 7 p.m. at home against Woodstock.