As a recipient of the former Nebraska All-American and Outland Trophy and Lombardi Trophy, given to the nation’s best lineman, during his playing days with the Cornhuskers (1970 through 1972), Glover established the Rich Glover Foundation to help inner-city kids. He held an annual summer camp, free of charge, to give Jersey City kids a chance to learn about the fundamentals of football.
But Glover wanted to do more. Two years ago, the College Football Hall of Famer approached Jersey City Superintendent of Schools Dr. Charles Epps about the possibility of getting into coaching on the high school level in his hometown.
Here’s one of the greatest performers in the history of college football, a two-time national champion, the recipient of the highest honor given to a defensive lineman (and presented to him by future U.S. President George H.W. Bush) wanting to coach football in the Jersey City public school system.
Seemed like a perfect fit.
The only thing missing was the opportunity.
When Dickinson head coach Eric Piccolo resigned at the end of the season, there was a vacancy for Glover. While Dickinson school officials pushed for another candidate, Epps stepped in and gave the position to Glover. He was a head football coach in Jersey City, albeit at rival Dickinson, not Snyder, Glover’s alma mater. So even when the Snyder job opened up again recently and there was talk of Glover perhaps moving to his old stomping grounds, he remained where he was hired.
“I’m already committed to Dickinson and this is where I’m staying,” Glover said. “I got the kids going already. I know the kids and it’s a good situation for me.”
In fact, Glover’s first job as a coach, after his career in the NFL with the Giants and Philadelphia Eagles ended prematurely because of injury, was as an assistant coach at – guess where? Dickinson, back in 1980. Glover was hired by then-Dickinson head coach Tom Bulwith to help turn around a struggling program. “We were able to turn it around then,” Glover said.
So he’s encouraged with the idea of taking over a program that has won just one game in each of the last five seasons.
“I think it’s a good situation,” Glover said. “It’s not a tough job. Like anything, there’s a challenge involved. But it was a challenge when I was there back then with Bulwith and we turned it around. The kids are working hard. They’re coming in every day and getting ready. It’s up to me to get them physically and mentally ready to play. I look at it as an opportunity to get back into coaching and bringing Jersey City football back to where it once was.”
It’s safe to say that the current kids at Dickinson have no idea who Rich Glover was, how he was the MVP of the Orange Bowl, how he once had a chance to meet with President Richard Nixon, who let Glover sit in the Cabinet chair in the White House that was normally occupied by Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird. “Glover, you’re the real Secretary of Defense,” Nixon said to Glover when the Cornhuskers visited the White House after winning the national title in 1972.
History like that just flies over the heads of teenagers nowadays, especially history that happened more than 35 years ago.
To most of the players at Dickinson, they don’t realize they’re being coached by a football legend. “Off the bat, they really don’t know,” Glover said. “But once they find out, they all say, ‘Wow, really?’ They want to know how they can get to that level. They get a little history lesson and then they know. They know that I respect them and then they respect me.”
Glover said that he’s not concerned taking over a program that has experienced victory only one time a year for the last six years.
“It’s still football,” Glover said. “It’s offense, it’s defense and it’s special teams. I feel like we can compete and if we take care of those three phases of the game, we can win. I honestly feel that way.”
The Rams will have one sure-fire standout to build around when the season begins and that’s running back/linebacker Tremaine Dennis, who has the potential to be Dickinson’s best football player in almost two decades.
“He’s the real deal,” Glover said of Dennis. “He’s going to be a player.”
But Glover is excited about the opportunity to be the new head coach at Dickinson.
“I’m just glad to be able to get this chance to give back,” Glover said. “I’ve been coaching [at three different Division I colleges] for a long time, so I’m going to take all my learning, all my experience and all my background and put it all together and see what happens.”
In the meantime, Glover will continue his free summer camp, which begins Tuesday at Caven Point Cochrane Stadium.
The fifth annual Rich Glover Football Camp will be held Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Caven Point for Jersey City youngsters ages seven through 14.
It is a free camp, done in conjunction with the Jersey City Recreation, and will teach the youngsters some of the football fundamentals.
“It gives kids who never had a chance to play football the chance to learn what football is all about,” Glover said. “It’s a free camp and it gets the kids out. They learn a little, they have fun and it’s a way to get kids interested in football.”
Gatorade and the NFL help to sponsor the camp. They also provide gifts that are given away to the campers. Any interested youngster is asked to call the Jersey City Recreation Department at (201) 547-5352 to register for the camp. Glover asks that the youngsters show up in athletic attire to be ready to participate right away. “We work on fundamentals, with the Recreation coaches and other volunteers coming out,” Glover said. “It’s really a lot of fun.”
Coaching high school football should be fun for Glover – that is, until the first game.
“I’m ready,” Glover said. “I know I’m ready.”
We’ll see when the games start in September.