Coach of the year: Medina's Larry Laird believes in his players -- and inspires them to succeed

Bring Godzilla to the fight and Medina football coach Larry Laird is rolling with the Bees. Throw in King Kong and The Gazette's 2021 Fall Coach of the Year is still taking the green and white. That's how much Laird believes in his team, and it was a big reason why the Bees went 13-1 and reached the Division I, Region 1 final for the second season in a row. "Kids will take on the persona of their coaches," Laird said. "It's no different than the kids taking on the persona of their parents. If I'm not confident, they're not confident. It's the same with the coaches. They take the lead of their head coach. "I've been around some hall of fame coaches. Coach (Mike) Mauk at Kenton and Coach (Dave) Dlugosz at Avon Lake, I owe them a great deal in forming me as a young coach and teaching me. Let's not forget a head coach is only as good as his assistant coaches, and I've had some great assistant coaches here." Laird also has had some great players in Ohio Mr. Football Drew Allar at quarterback as well as first-team All-Ohio wide receiver Brennen Schramm, Matt Spatny at linebacker and Jajuan Jackson at cornerback. Add second-team defensive lineman Nick Manley and linebacker Matt Hamula and the squad was loaded with talent. "He's just so confident because he knows our abilities," Schramm said. "He knows how hard we worked. When we know he has that much confidence in us and knows we're going to do our thing, it makes us feel good, too. It's great to know he has that confidence in you no matter who you're playing." Talent only goes so far without confidence. The Bees went 10-0 in the regular season for the first time in school history because of that belief and won a Greater Cleveland Conference crown to end a 48-year league title drought. "It's huge, not as much for the seniors, because by the time we're seniors we think we can do it," Allar said. "But for the underclassmen, just getting their confidence up and thinking that they can do it and seeing we can do it on the field, it is speaking words into existence. That's how he puts it. "It's going into the Ed's, Ignatiuses and Mentors of the world and not being scared. You can't be scared. You have to know you can do it every single game." Football isn't first The world history teacher at Medina High will talk football with anyone, but Laird is much more than that. It isn't lost on a single player, and that goes from the most decorated athlete like Allar down to the fourth-string running back on the freshmen team. If you're part of the program, you're part of Laird's life. "First of all, I think we have great kids at Medina," Laird said. "It's not just me. There are 14 on my coaching staff. We set an expectation. We treat the kids as if they are our sons. Whether it's the lowest sophomore or the best senior, I try to talk to every kid every other day. "I'll pull a kid out of drill and ask how are your grades? What's going on at home? Just talk to them. You've heard this before. The kids don't care what you think until they know you care, and I do believe that." Because Laird never puts himself above the game, he gets the most out of his players. Those players won't just run through the proverbial brick wall for him. They'll build it back up so they can do it again. "That's even better than him caring about you on the field," Schramm said. "When he's asking about how you're doing outside of football, it shows he cares about you. No matter what's going on off the field, he's there supporting you, too." It's not just about the team at Medina, it's about the culture, the family and the student-athlete. "He's a very down-to-earth guy," Spatny said. "During practice, if we're doing a drill or something, he'll just have a normal conversation with you when you're off to the side with him. He's very easy to talk to. He can get serious when he wants to coach, but he's laid back. He's a great coach because he can flip sides so easily." Circus never came to town It wouldn't have been all that crazy had things gone off the rails for the 52-year-old this season. Having a five-star quarterback who doubles as the top-ranked signal caller in the nation is enough. Putting the Bees on ESPN for a Greater Cleveland Conference game against Mentor doubles the stress. Yet you never would have known it in talking to Laird. "It's a testament to his character," Allar said. "I think the kids' character, too. I've known them all for a while and have nothing but good things to say about them. It's the culture we were brought up into and the culture he instilled in the high school." That culture showed players it was never OK to feel like you were above the system, and each and every one of them took it to heart. If there was a difference in philosophy, it was handled with understanding and openness. "It goes back to us all playing the same game," Jackson said. "We learned to play together as one. Even though we were winning games, we still knew it was one game at a time. He didn't let us get a big head. He helped keep our head on straight. "It's always nice to have a coach you can depend on and trust. That helps a lot. It's always great to have someone like that to build from. You know they'll help you with relationships and with school. That's big." While things didn't end in a state title, it took one of the most storied programs in St. Edward, which eventually won state, to knock the Bees out of the playoffs. "It really helps us focus on our end goal, which this year was state," Spatny said. "We thought we could go that far. We came up a little short, but we had the end goal in mind and knew what we had to do to accomplish it. We couldn't be selfish. There was no room for it. We knew what we had to do and what needed to be done to meet that goal head on." Contact Brad Bournival at bournival929@gmail.com.