NEW YORK – For Mike Grant, coaching Minnesota football is in his blood. It’s what he was raised on. So it was a surprise to no one when Grant, the son Bud Grant — the winningest coach in Minnesota Vikings history, took home the High School Coach of the Year award presented by Don Shula Friday in Lincoln Center.
As the head coach of Eden Prairie High School in Minnesota, Grant was nominated by the Vikings for the award and joined two other finalists from across the country who exemplify a commitment to player integrity, achievement, leadership and health and safety. Grant is a 35-year coaching veteran and receives $25,000 — $15,000 of which will go the school’s football program.
“You have to make great decisions. We talk about thoughtfully deciding who you are going to run with in your group of friends. What is your story going to be when you are done here? Will people think of you as an outstanding person or as someone who never achieved what they could have? We provide support through our school and coaches for kids struggling with family issues and let them know that they have a family here with our football team that will have their back,” Grant said in his acceptance speech.
Vikings Owner/President Mark Wilf commended Grant for carrying on the legacy of his father, Bud.
“The Vikings have enjoyed a strong connection to the Grant family over several decades,” Wilf said. “His advocacy for the Vikings youth football efforts is appreciated and we are extremely proud of Mike’s well-deserved accomplishment. Like his father, Mike has been an outstanding representative of the state of Minnesota.
The elder Grant, who was the first coach to lead an NFL team to four Super Bowls, not only instilled his son with the foundation of coaching players the right way, but Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll as well.
“His confidence that he exudes going with what he believes in his gut was extraordinary to me to see the calm and the commitment that he had to do what he felt was right in his mind. He didn’t care what anybody else thought. I thought it was empowering to know that when you get to a certain part in your life and in your coaching career you can have a really strong, solid opinion whether everybody agrees with it or not. What’s right is what you know is right at the time. He talked that way and he taught me that.”
The other finalists were Tri-Central High School Head Football Coach George Gilbert of Kirklin, IN and Katy High School Athletic Coordinator and Head Football Coach Gary Joseph from Katy, TX. Each finalist receives a $2,500 cash award and a $5,000 grant for their high school football programs.
The Don Shula NFL High School Coach of the Year Award selection panel is comprised of Coach Shula; former Dallas Cowboys Personnel Director and NFL.com contributor Gil Brandt; former Indianapolis Colts Coach and current NBC analyst Tony Dungy; veteran sportswriter Jack Fleischer; Executive Director of USA Football Scott Hallenbeck; Former Raiders Coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer John Madden; General Raymond Odierno, Army Chief of Staff; Sam Palmisano, Retired Chairman of the Board, IBM Corporation; Former Secretary of State, Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution and faculty member at the Stanford Graduate School of Business Condoleeza Rice; Executive Director of the American Football Coaches Association Grant Teaff; and Aaron Thomas, Athletic Director at Aplington-Parkersburg High School in Parkersburg, IA.
