I "Gess" It's The End Of An Era As Glenn Resigns At Haddonfield

Seems like just yesterday I was on a committee helping interview Glenn Gess and two other finalists to replace Charlie Keil as Haddonfield Memorial High School’s girls varsity soccer coach.  Nine years later I was on the committee to find Glenn’s successor.  (More on that in a future post.)

Coach Gess and Coach P

From a selfish point of view I wish Glenn would stay for another nine years, give or take.  Aside from being a part, however small, of a highly successful program, I enjoyed the time spent with Glenn, who at once is funny, entertaining, athletic, a good soccer guy, a good person and a good friend.  He even put me on the roster as a "special assistant," a title I am proud to hold, although I'm still not sure what it means.

Glenn e-mailed me back on November 7 and tipped me off that he was stepping down after nine years as head coach.  His daughter, Brianna, is an exceptionally talented runner who will be in 9^th grade next year and Glenn said he wanted to be at the cross country meets, and to spend more time with son Derek’s club team.  Both laudable intentions.  Because more than being a good friend and a great coach (in my opinion), Glenn is first and foremost an outstanding family man.  Meet his parents, his lovely wife, Pam, and his kids and you'll see that.

I knew Glenn back when he was the Haddon Township coach because I used to bug him for his roster starting two weeks before the Hawks were due in our stadium.  When we interviewed him for the Haddonfield job, a parent on the committee wondered if Glenn might be a little intense.  “I think Glenn’s intense when he butters his toast in the morning,” said then Athletic Director Phil Smart.  (Phil is now the A.D. at Eastern.)  But he said we were looking for someone to take the program to the next level.  We found that someone in Glenn.

During the Gess era, HMHS was 116-3-3 in Colonial Conference play, with eight championships.  Overall we were 189-18-7 with three State Cups and one runner-up.  Then there were two runners-up trophies in the South Jersey Coaches Tournament.

More important, from my observation, Glenn could push your daughter to be the best she could possibly be on and off the field.  Glenn would tell it like it was from day one each season.   Every girl knew exactly where she stood and the 15 or so best players played the most.  No excuses, no entitlements. 

Aside from being one of the best coaches in the area and an excellent athlete in his own right, I always thought Glenn was pretty funny.  One night several years into his tenure I sat next to him at a dinner at Bob and Sue Heindel’s house and he was talking about the interview process for the HMHS job.  He interviewed first with A.D. Smart and thought it went well and that he would get the job.  But then he got a call that he had to interview with the principal.  So he did, and he thought it went well and that he would get the job. But  then he got a call he had to come back to meet with committees of parents, players, alumni and Coach P.  Only in Haddonfield, he thought.  He said when he applied for the Haddon Township job, “They asked if I knew who Pele was, I said, ‘yes,’ and they said, ‘You’re hired.’”

My favorite Glenn Gess line was from one of our year end banquets a few years back when Glenn told the story of finding his wife Pam’s Cosmopolitan, leafing through it and “I felt like I was reading the other team’s playbook.”  For the record, Pam denied ever even subscribing to Cosmopolitan.

Coach Gess, outgoing Booster Club president,  Sigrid Kiep and husband, Bob.

I would like to say HMHS girls soccer won’t be the same without Glenn Gess.  In way it’s true but in a way things won’t change.  Our committee recommended an excellent candidate whom AD Lefty Banos has proposed to the principal and the superintendent.  HMHS girls soccer will remain in good hands (or feet), but it will be a little different next year.

As I said at the recent year-end banquet, we won before Glenn Gess came, we won a lot while he was in charge, and we will win after Glenn Gess, but I for one will miss having him on the sidelines.  But he promised to sit up in the press box during the stadium  games, so I am looking forward to being entertained once more.