Sports/Asst. Editor

Two graduates of St. Philip Catholic Central High School – including current volleyball coach and athletic director Vicky Groat – were recently honored with prestigious prep administrative awards in Nebraska on July 29 at the annual conference of the National High School Athletic Coach Association.

Groat – whose Lady Tiger volleyball squad won its 11th Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 4 state championship under her direction in January at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena – was named National Coach of the Year for Volleyball by the NHSACA at the organization’s July 29 gathering in Nebraska.

Groat – a 1985 STP grad – replaced her late mom, Sheila Guerra, as volleyball coach at St. Philip in 2005, and became the school’s athletic director and principal as well in 2008. 

Guerra had won nine state titles as STP volleyball coach previously; Groat passed away in 2006. The school’s other state crown came in 1979 under Becky Emrich – which gives St. Philip a state record total of 21 state volleyball titles since 1977.

Also at the NHSACA conference in Nebraska in late July, Fred Smith, a 1973 graduate of St. Philip and a lifelong family friend of Groat and Guerra – with the two families at one time living only a block apart from each otter in B.C. – was named National Athletic Director of the Year.

Smith was athletic director at Comstock, Buchanan, Lake Michigan Catholic and lastly Benton Harbor for many years, retiring two years ago.

Both Groat and Smith were nominated by the MHSAA for national honors consideration a year prior to this year’s annual NHSACA conference, in 2020, but there was no conference last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thus, Groat’s most recent volleyball coaching state title this past January 2021 (the 2020 finals were pushed back from their original date in November due to the pandemic) did not weigh into the NHSACA’s decision to name her National Coach of the Year for Volleyball. And Smith was also nominated for a 2020 award, but is now two years retired as an AD.

Nevertheless, Groat and Smith still were feted with national awards in Nebraska as 2020 nominees were pushed to the 2021 meeting.

“I knew I was a finalist for the award, that’s why I went out to Nebraska, but I was shocked to hear my named called as the winner of the award,” said Groat, who noted that she was also nominated in 2012.

“So I was shocked, because there’s just so many great candidates from across the country who I’m sure are also all deserving of the award, but it’s also really cool.

“And in Fred’s case,” added Groat, “well, Fred Smith was also very deserving of winning a national athletic director award. He did so many things for so many student-athletes through the years at so many schools, but again the neat thing is that both Fred and I are St. Philip school family – although Fred graduated long before I did from St. Phil, and I was the one who went to school at St. Phil with his daughter, Terry.

“Small world sometimes.”

Groat – who is also on the board of the Michigan Inter-scholastic Volleyball Coaches Association, who has won numerous state awards and is in several halls of fame – explained that winning awards from the NHSACA is based on more than just win-loss results.

“It’s coaching or athletic directing, for sure, and one’s successes in those area, but it’s also about one’s community involvement as well as several other things,” she said.

“So I guess it shows, by winning these awards, that both myself and Fred are about more than just coaching or directing. We’re also about helping shape the lives of young student-athletes as best we can. And I think we’ve both succeeded in that area, too.”

Groat, who is widely known by her colleagues for her humbleness despite all of her volleyball court achievements as a coach and as a player (she won three state Class D titles as a player under her mom in 1983, 1984 and 1985), put things in her own perspective about what it means to be named National Coach of the Year for Volleyball:

“ Yes, of course, for sure, I’m very, very pleased and honored to have won this national award. It’s pretty awesome. And it’s awesome for a small school like St. Philip to have two national award winners in one year,” she said this past Monday.

“ But to tell you the truth, I’m not about awards, and I never have been. What this award really does is, it says a lot about the kids who have been through this program all these years at St. Philip. I’ve been blessed to have coached a lot of great student-athletes who were volleyball players, but all the players I’ve coached have been great kids, great people. They’re out there working their rear ends off and buying into what we’re selling on how St. Philip volleyball works, and they believe in the tradition of the school and they go out there and play their hearts out.

“So all their hard work is my reward. I always tell the kids, work hard and good things will happen. And that’s why we work hard as a team, all the time, and that’s why this is a team award to me. The award might say Vicky Groat, St. Philip Catholic Central, but this is for the kids I’ve coached over the years. Some of my teams have won over the years and some have lost, but all of my student-athlete players have been winners.”

Groat also offered a couple amusing quips about her award.

“One thing, winning this award, means I’m old and I’ve been around for a long time,” she said with a laugh.

“And another thing is, I just enjoy – just love – coaching the kids, year in and year out. I even enjoyed coaching the kids at 8 a.m. this morning for the first time this season, in a hot St. Philip gym. The coaching, the being with the kids every year, it just never, ever gets old for me.”

Groat also added one other comment about Smith.

“After I became athletic director along with my other duties at St. Phil, I still always talked with Fred all the time – and still do – because he’s been like a mentor to me,” she said.

“Fred’s offered help to me whenever he could ... and he’s just a great individual and a super ambassador for student-athletes. And even though he’s retired now, he’s still out there being involved with the kids, working as a starter for cross country races and he’s still on a lot of athletic boards.

“Fred winning a national award, me winning a national award – like I said, sure, it’s great, it’s wonderful, but in the end, it’s always been and always will be about the kids.”