On the Road with Olivia and Alexa Episode 13: Huntsville and Grissom

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Episode 13 of On the Road with Olivia and Alexa features two Huntsville City Schools: Huntsville and Grissom.

The Panthers from Huntsville have a new head coach this season; Jimmy Gay, who spent the past five seasons as the offensive line coach for Scott Basden at Muscle Shoals, takes over the Huntsville program.

Coach Gay was hired back in January so he’s had the whole offseason to get in and make his adjustments to the program and the players say they’ve noticed a culture change since Coach Gay came in; there’s a desire to kick things up a notch and elevate their game to the next level and Coach Gay is happy to see that mindset in his players.

“I think there’s been a push to up the standards and expectations from what it has been in the past. I don’t know what everybody else thinks but I know I wouldn’t come here to lose. It’s about winning football games,” Gay said. “They’re buying in and they’re showing up and putting the work in to get to that next level and we just have to up our game.”

The Grissom Tigers are looking to improve from their 2-8 record in 2023.

2024 marks head coach Rich Dutton’s fourth season at the helm of the program, so when he looks ahead to this season compared to year’s past what feels different to him about this team?

“This one feels special because these guys haven’t left us. It’s our fourth year here and they’ve been with us since freshman year and they’ve had success as they’ve been coming through so it’s going to be exciting to see that continue,” Dutton said. “They’ve been buying in and we’ve seen them so much against themselves. It’s going to be fun to see them versus somebody else and see what we have been doing.”

The Panthers travel to Hazel Green to kick off 2024 and Grissom will host Lee. Both games are set for Friday, August 23.

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