Hello and welcome back to Let's Talk Choctaws with Meeby and Kienna!!
This week we had the pleasure of sitting down with Tony Gilbert, the Defensive Coordinator of the Mississippi College football team. Through talking with the football team over the past year that Coach Gilbert has been at MC, we've heard many stories about his encouraging attitude as well as his genuine interest in the success of each and every player on the team. We decided we'd like to get to know him a little better, and learn more about how he came to be such a well-loved figure on campus.
Coach Gilbert starts his day around 7:30 every morning in his office. Athletes come in and out to conference with him, watch film and get instruction from the coaches. Next, skill instruction on the football field begins at 3:00 pm. This is where the coaches can do more personalized training for the players. Like many other sports, the pandemic has pushed the football team's season into the spring. Additionally, there have been many adjustments to their usual practice and training in order to keep everyone safe. Throughout all these changes, Coach Gilbert assured us that the team is making lots of progress. "It's tough on a lot of these kids, many of them have been playing football at this time of year every season since they were seven or eight years old," said Gilbert, "But they are handling it well and working hard."
Coach Gilbert finds a distinct joy in coaching. "You see," he said, "I'm not working. I love this." He told us about how much he enjoys trying to help young people achieve their potential. "I want them to use what God has given them and play to the best of their ability," he explained. He not only believes in his team, he believes in the future of Mississippi College. "The athletics at MC can go so far. We have great support and facilities to let these athletes shine, and recruit great athletes for the future," he said.
The team has a scrimmage coming up in October, which will be a great opportunity to start practicing "spring ball in the fall." In order to prepare for the spring, the team will slowly begin working up to practicing in their gear. "We get 15 days to practice, and on that last day, we are going to allow the team to hold a draft. They'll get to pick teams and then have a spring game. It's going to be great to let people see the kids, and give everyone a chance to have fun", Gilbert said.
Football has been a part of Coach Gilbert's life since he can remember. His first introduction was throwing around the football in the yard as a kid, and he would eventually move up to flag football and junior football before starting for his senior high team in 10th grade. "Well, my plan was to go play football in the NFL, then when I get through with the NFL, move on to coach high school kids. That's what I thought it was going to be." Gilbert mentioned. However, as he would soon find out, God has a plan for us that often looks different from what we may expect. He graduated from Missouri State earning his bachelor's degree in 1989, followed by his master's degree in 1991. The summer after he earned his master's degree, Gilbert signed a free agent contract with the New York Giants. He ended up staying in Missouri and beginning his collegiate coaching career.
He coached for ten different universities before landing here at Mississippi College alongside his longtime friend, Coach John Bland. The two were assistants on the Southern Arkansas University football staff under head coach Steve Rogers from 1997-1999. Before they met, Coach Gilbert had heard of Coach Bland from when he was a quarterback from the University of Arkansas. As they worked together, they became good friends and bonded over their shared values of hard work and dedication to family. Eventually, they would move on from SAU, but they always talked about wanting to reconnect one day. That dream came true last year when a defensive coordinator position became available, and this dynamic duo was reunited.
Coach Gilbert is grateful to be able to be at the same school as his son, Tony. "I am blessed tremendously," he said. He has a daughter who played Division 1 basketball, and due to his coaching schedule he was only able to catch some of her games. With Tony on the team, however, he doesn't have to worry about missing any of his big moments on the field. "To see your son everyday, to be able to watch and see him play- it's a blessing to be at every last one of your son's games- sometimes I don't realize how good I got it," he said. "I treat all of these kids like they're my sons- offense or defense, it doesn't matter. It's kinda weird because on the field, I see [my son] as just another one of the players, but I look at the players as if they were my own family." He emphasized to us how he sees this job as a blessing, and something he tries not to take for granted. Coach Gilbert said that he sometimes compares himself to the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness for forty years, "Not saying that the other places I've been haven't been great-" he added, but that through patience and trusting in God to move him to the best place for him and his family, he feels that he has found a home at Mississippi College. "I don't realize how fortunate I am to have this opportunity. To be at a great school, to work with some great coaches who care about kids, and then to coach your son- man, that's a blessing."
Something you may not know about Coach Gilbert is that he has a passion for racquetball. "It's so close to football. You gotta get yourself mentally ready to play. You're going to have some good days, you're going to have some bad days- how are you going to overcome it?" He told us that he believed the racquetball association in Mississippi has some of the best players he has ever been around. "Just because I'm the best athlete doesn't mean I'm the best player," he laughed, "I can get beat by some sixty-year-old guy. I know I'm stronger, faster, and more powerful, but [in racquetball] you've got to be smarter." The thing he likes about it is that you can get angry and hit the ball as hard as you want but it doesn't necessarily do you any good. "You're in that square room and nobody has to move to hit it. You can knock it back, and all somebody's gotta do is just set up and- 'dink'," he said, miming someone nonchalantly returning the ball.
As we talked to Coach Gilbert, it was clear to see that he has a great passion for life- from his faith, to family, to football, to even his hobbies. He told us that one thing he wants his athletes to learn is Matthew 22:37-40: "Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." These are the values that he tries to show his students are the most important. Even as we were interviewing Coach Gilbert, he made a point to shout out encouragement to the athletes who waved as they walked by his office. It's clear to see that the reason Coach Gilbert is so admired around campus is his interest in others, not just as athletes, but as a friend and as a brother or sister in Christ.
Thank you for joining us and be sure to tune in next Monday for our next guest.
