Paul Standard brings 36 years of football coaching experience and a wealth of success to Gilmer High School.
Standard, 58, was named Gilmer’s football head coach Jan. 13. He has spent the past week and a half meeting with current assistants, players and getting to know those in the community.
Last Friday he sat down for an interview with the Times-Courier to discuss his plans for the football program.
Standard was the head coach at St. Pius X for 20 years and led the Golden Lions to a 174-72 record. In the process, he surpassed George B. Maloof to become the school’s all-time wins leader.
Maloof coached Standard when he was a student at St. Pius, and the lessons Standard learned continue to serve him today.
Standard discussed Maloof’s influence and noted, “Coach has a statement that is on a lot of different things around campus that says, ‘If you do the best with the abilities God blessed you with then you’ll always be a champion.’ That was an overriding mantra for me. I told that to our players at St. Pius, and I’ll say that to our young men here.
“We all want to win. I didn’t come here not to win. That will take care of itself. Another thing is taking care of each other. One thing I talked about when I met with the team, is that the older players have to take care of the younger players.”
No matter what the scoreboard reads each Friday, Standard shared what he expects from his team.
“I hope if someone watches a Gilmer Bobcat football game, they’ll say No. 1 that they’re disciplined; that they look like they’re coached and know what they’re doing and that the kids play hard regardless of the situation,” Standard said. “We want to play with good sportsmanship, and that doesn’t mean you’re not playing aggressive.”
Prior to his arrival at St. Pius, he spent 16 combined years in public education at Loganville, Meadowcreek and Dacula. Over that span, he was voted DeKalb County’s assistant coach of the year four times.
When asked if he has any reservations about re-entering a public school, Standard said, “Kids are kids. They want to be taken care of, and they want to be loved and they want someone to push them. They want someone to take an interest in them, and I don’t think that changes no matter what their situation is or what environment they come from.”
Building and maintaining relationships will be a cornerstone of Gilmer’s program. In the coming months, Standard will meet with each player individually.
“I did this for 20 years at St. Pius,” Standard said. “It’s about getting to know the player better. It’s not just about the football side, but about his family, his siblings and what his goals are after high school. It’s not an end-of-the-season meeting, but more of a preseason meeting I do through May.”
Standard has met with each GHS assistant from last season’s staff. They plan to meet as a group in the coming weeks to put together Gilmer’s offensive and defensive schemes. Standard said there are still some spots that need filled.
He also plans to meet all of Clear Creek Middle School’s coaches and began that process last week.
“The middle school staff is the most important part of the whole coaching spectrum for us,” Standard said. “Because if players don’t have a good experience in middle school, then I’ll never see them in ninth grade.”
Standard’s St. Pius teams won eight region titles and reached the playoffs 18 times over 20 years. Those playoff runs included nine trips to the quarterfinals and four semifinal appearances. In 2012 and 2014, St. Pius reached the state championship game.
He discussed his future plans for the program, which includes returning GHS to the playoffs.
“My vision down the road for Gilmer football is that Gilmer gets back to the time when they were vying for a region championship under Wesley Tankersley, as well as under coach Mike Thompson,” he said.
“We want to take this program and continually get better. Every day we’re going to accomplish something. We’re going to have a great day in the weight room and at school. Our vision is to take Gilmer football and make it a program that is respected in this area. My vision is that Gilmer is going to be in the playoffs. That’s part of the expectations.”
Standard got a chance to meet GHS players last Friday and “about 40” attended the meeting for rising 10th, 11th and 12th graders.
“Here are 40 boys who want to play football, and quite frankly, they haven’t had a great record (7-22). I’m not pointing any fingers, but they still want to try and play,” Standard said. “That really tells you something about these kids, and I respect the heck out of these players. They still want to be here.”
On the field offensively, the Bobcats will be a wing-T triple option team. Defensively, they will deploy an odd-man front.
“Offensively, they were doing some things last year that we will continue,” Standard said. “It’s an archaic offense, and we’ll be under center. I think it fits the personnel that I’ve seen on film and in person. It allows us to control the ball and puts us in a position to be successful at the end of the game. Plus, it’s not really seen and that’s an advantage.
“The most important thing defensively, is that we’re gap sound. We’re not big on stunting and getting out of position. I’m an offensive guy, but I’ve always believed to put your best guys on defense. If those same guys have to play offense, we will, but we’ll spell them on offense.”
Standard added, “You don’t have to have five-star players, you just have to have five-star kids. I know that’s corny, but the bottom line is that players mesh and play together. There’s something about this community that lends itself to that and that’s why I wanted to be here.”
The final stage of the hiring process is board of education approval, which is expected to take place Thursday. There is a meet and greet afterward scheduled for 6 p.m.
Standard and his wife Cindy have four children. Paul III (P.G.), Elizabeth and Mary Kate are alumni of St. Pius and Margret May is currently enrolled.