High school football: No letting up for Buckeye's Greg Dennison, now the winningest coach in county history

Greg Dennison is in his 36th year of teaching and 30th season as a high school football head coach, but the 58-year-old shows no signs of slowing down. Still fit, energetic and with a healthy head of hair, Dennison last week became the winningest coach in Medina County history when Buckeye beat North Olmsted 51-28. As the Bucks (4-0) prepare to host Westlake (4-0) tonight, Dennison owns a 210-102 career record, including a 199-93 mark at county schools Wadsworth (148-76 from 1995-2015) and Buckeye (51-17 from 2017 to present). Better still for Bucks faithful, he's not even thinking about retiring as a teacher or coach. "I just like being around people," Dennison said. "I'm not the type of person that could sit around and not do much. It's about being around kids and people and making those connections. My dad coached until he was 74, so hopefully I inherited some of that." Dennison's dad, 85-year-old Jim, was his head football coach at the University of Akron, where he was in charge from 1973-85, and served as the head coach at Walsh University from 1995-2012. It's doubtful Dennison will coach into his 70s, but right now it is still as much fun for him as it was when he was in charge at Norton, his alma mater, in 1993 and '94. "I don't see any plans for slowing down at all," he said. "I still enjoy it and like everything about it. The in-season stuff, the out-of-season stuff, the grind, I still like all of it." Dennison credits wife Ann — their son Adam works for the federal government and daughter Emily is a biomedical engineer — for running the household, especially when their kids were younger, while he was breaking down opposing offenses and defenses and devising game plans. "She's unbelievable," he said. "I couldn't have done anywhere near what I've done without her support and everything she does." When Dennison began a five-year teaching and coaching stint at Barberton in 1988, some parents of his current players weren't even in grade school. "I know a little about him," two-way lineman Ben Midea said. "I know his dad coached at Akron and he played at Akron and he coached at Wadsworth and Brunswick (as an assistant in 2016). That's all I know." Added running back/linebacker Gage Nagy: "I know he used to coach at Wadsworth and had a pretty successful career there. Now he's at Buckeye. That's what I mostly know about him." Asked how old he thought his coach was, Nagy said 52. Midea was right on the money, but he had help from his teammate, who was interviewed first. "I just guessed," Midea said when asked how he knew. "No, I'm messing with you. Gage texted me." In an era where more and more coaches burn out, Dennison has successfully adapted without altering who he is. Quiet and laid-back off the field, he's not a loud screamer on it, but he knows how to get his point across and motivate his players. "He's a very careful guy," Nagy said. "He has a lot of dedication and wants to see everyone succeed. All he wants to do is make his players the best versions of themselves. He's a really nice guy to be around. Wherever he is, he tries to make the environment better." Added Midea: "He's fair, but at the same time he's harsh when he has to be. He's a very good guy and he knows what he's talking about. If you take his coaching right, all is going to go well for you. When we're on the field, he's a little intense, as a coach should be, but off the field he's a chill guy. He's been doing it a long time." Dennison, whose 148 wins at Wadsworth are a school record, overcame kidney cancer in 2014 and made a quick return to the sideline, but his gut told him it was time for a change after the Grizzlies went 3-7 in 2015, his 21st year in charge of the program. The owner of a bachelor's degree in education from Akron and a master's in sports administration from Ashland University, Denison continued to teach at Wadsworth in the 2016-17 school year, but spent that football season as an assistant at Brunswick. "I felt it was time for a change," he said. "I just needed something different." The next school year, Dennison took a pay cut to come to Buckeye as a math teacher and the head football coach. "I decided I wanted to be a head coach again, and if you're going to be a head coach you should be in the building," he said. "That's so important. You don't get into this profession for the money, but it was worth it." In his first six seasons at Buckeye, Dennison led the Bucks to four division titles, with a fifth possible this year. That's made the move beneficial for coach and school, especially since Dennison's ethics and integrity have always been beyond reproach. "It's pretty similar everywhere," he said. "It just depends on what you put into it. I haven't had to change anything from what I did at Wadsworth to what I do here. You always have to gear what you do to the talent you have. Even at Wadsworth, when we had guys who could throw it and catch it, we threw a lot. When we had guys who could run, we ran a lot. "It's about staying up to date and adapting, but we do a lot of the same things we've always done. Buckeye is a really good place with the type of kids we have and the support we get from the administration and parents. We've been successful, and that helps, too." Dennison would love for the Bucks to advance in the postseason — "There's nothing like a playoff run and the excitement it brings to the school and community," he said — but he doesn't define success by wins and losses. "I'm competitive, but you gain a little more perspective the more experience you get," he said. "We evaluate our kids, our talent, and we try to get our team one level above our talent. If we have average talent, we want to be good. If we have good talent, we want to be great. That's always our goal. "Wins are nice, but it's seeing where your kid start and where they end up and how they improve that's really rewarding." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X.