The life lessons that Sylacauga head football coach Matt Griffith received from his father has made him into the man that he is today.

“Daddy never really influenced me to go into coaching football,” Griffith said. “His biggest influence was teaching you at a young age how to handle adversity in life. How to handle how life is going to be up and how life is going to be down and you have to be mentally tough to handle those ups and downs.

“Nothing feels better than a win on Friday night and nothing is lower than when you are not winning. You have to be a mentally tough individual to consistently handle that for a career. He probably prepared me for that the way he raised me more than anything else.”

Griffith’s dad, Doc Griffith, is a legend in Northeast Alabama for what he did on the gridiron. When Griffith was coming up he said that his father never interfered in his son’s playing career.

“My dad was probably one of the best football players to ever come out of Etowah County,” Griffith said. “He was probably offered a scholarship by every major university at the time. He chose Auburn and he was a three-year letterman and had a great career.”

Doc Griffith “rewrote the record books” at Hokes Bluff High School, according to an article in the Gadsden Times in 1964. He went on to play for Ralph “Shug” Jordan at Auburn where he was the starting fullback for the Tigers in 1964.

Auburn went 6-4 overall and 3-3 in 1964. The Tigers picked up wins over Houston, Tennessee, UT-Chattanooga, Southern Miss, Mississippi State and Georgia.

Despite his success on the high school and college level, Doc Griffith didn’t pressure his children to follow in his footsteps.

“The one thing that he never did is coach me at the supper table,” Matt Griffith said. “He never once coached me; I would come home and ask him questions on football and stuff. He would basically say ‘What did your head coach tell you to do? That is what you need to do.’ You do what your coaches ask you to do and he just stayed out of it.

“As much as he knew about football and as good of a player as he was, he let my coaches coach me. He never interfered whatsoever.

“He did that in college; he just stayed out of it. That’s the one thing that I pass on to my kids all the time. One thing that I want to pass on to my children is that mental toughness. Life is tough. It could be really good or it could be really hard. You have to be able to handle those things and we tell our players that all the time.”

Matt Griffith taking the job at Sylacauga in 2005 was one proud moment for his father. The head coach is happy that his father has been able to see his son being successful. The Aggies made the playoffs in both 2008 and 2006 and have had winning records three of the last four years.

“He was real excited when I took the head-coaching job at Sylacauga High School,” Griffith said. “He had run track up here when he was in high school in the late 50’s. Hokes Bluff use to come up to run track meets here with Sylacauga. He knew the tradition here and he was very excited that his son had a second chance to be a head football coach.

“He thought I was coming to a really good town. One of my proudest moments is that we have been successful and he is still alive to see that his youngest son has been successful as head football coach. I just remember him being very excited when I took the head-coaching job here and that we have done well. I think that has really tickled him to death.”

Even though his father was not a football coach, he gives his son helpful advice about the highs and lows of leading a program.

“I probably speak to my dad every day in some capacity,” Griffith said. “He said one of the best things in the world a couple weeks ago to me. We were talking after we beat Thompson in the spring game and he said just remember one thing: when you are winning your enemies can’t touch you, but when you lose your friends can’t help you. I thought that was one of the best statements I ever heard to describe being a head football coach.

“There is a lot of truth to that. He has always been that way as far just putting things in very no-nonsense country terms. Just a commonsense approach to what you are doing in your life. I thought that was a good statement by a guy that’s not a football coach, but he knows how folks are.”

Living up to his dad’s legacy is something that Griffith never felt he had to do. He said that his father just wanted his children to be the best they could be. That do-your-best attitude is something that his father instilled in him.

“It’s a tough situation when you walk into your hometown high school and there is a picture of your dad with an Auburn uniform, with his high school jersey retired and a high school All-American trophy sitting in there.

“There was a lot to live up to. I was very fortunate that he never asked me to live up to that. He just wanted me and my brother Sam to be tough, hard-nosed football players that did the best that they could. Both of us were lucky enough to go play at Jacksonville State and we weren’t near the football player that our dad was, but I think in his own way he was very proud of what we did with the ability that God gave us.

“Those are things I remember. He never put any pressure on us. I remember he would come in from a ballgame and say I thought you really hustled tonight. Or if you didn’t hustle then you were going to hear it. It was never about the ability that you had, he just wanted you to give all you had when you played.

“That attitude really carried over, because I knew I wanted to be a football coach or play football the rest of my life by the time I was in seventh or eighth grade. When I went to Jacksonville State I found out real quick that there was no way I would get a chance to play past college. I was very fortunate just to participate and letter at a Division II school.”

After a successful career at Auburn Doc Griffith was drafted by Kansas City. After playing just one season, he came back to Hokes Bluff to settle down and begin a family.

“He was going to be a coach when he went to college. By the time that he got to his senior year he found out what coaches made for a year,” Griffith said. “He knew that he and my mom wanted a big family. He knew it would be hard to support a big family on a coach’s salary back then.

“He was drafted in the 17th round by Kansas City. He played a year up there and he came home for the summer and got on at Goodyear and was making good money and never went back. He worked at Goodyear for about 32 years. I think deep down when I decided to go into coaching, I think he liked that because it was something that he wanted to do and he didn’t do.”

While growing up, all of Griffith’s friends idolized John Wayne. While Griffith like the actor, he had another man he looked up to.

“My friends loved John Wayne movies and stuff,” Griffith said. “I always liked John Wayne, but I was not fascinated by him because I thought I was being raised by him. He is one of the last of the John Wayne type characters. He is just a bigger than life guy, just an old school, tough guy.

“The older I get the more I appreciate that he didn’t put pressure on me and my brother to be anything other than who we were. We didn’t have to match him; he had nothing to prove to us. He just wanted us to have that great high school experience of playing ball like he enjoyed. He left it at that and he has always been that way.”