Gordy Gruhl takesover Westwood boys basketball

CAMILLA – Albany Hall of Fame coach Gordy Gruhl has come out of a brief retirement to take over the boys basketball team at Westwood School in Camilla. Gruhl, who retired from coaching at Deerfield Windsor in April, will coach the boys team and Derrick Harris will remain as the girls’ coach at Westwood. Harris had been serving as both the boys and girls coach.

“I can’t imagine another school in southwest Georgia that will have the quality of coaches like we do now at Westwood,” said the school’s headmaster Kevin Cloud. Gruhl’s teams have recorded more than 1100 wins in his 35 year coaching career and a total of seven GISA state championships. Harris has completed three years as the Westwood girls coach and his teams are currently riding a 34-game winning streak and recorded the state championship last year. “This is truly a blessing,” said Cloud. “The boys will have the opportunity to work with a coach who has done so much.”

Gruhl retired from Deerfield Windsor last spring and said he was enjoying retirement, but he is grateful to be back. “It was enjoyable,” said Gruhl, “it was especially nice in the mornings. But, once those balls started bouncing again, I was missing it. You don’t realize how much you miss something, until you don’t have it.”

Gruhl was introduced to his new team Thursday afternoon and his team had their first game Friday for the junior varsity and then Saturday evening for the varsity. “I am excited about the opportunity,” the coach said. “It is going to be a challenge to build the program, but I’ve never been afraid of a challenge.”

The Wildcats started 0-3 on the young season and several players started the season with injuries. “We have a lot of work to do,” said Gruhl. “It is not how you start, but how you finish. I believe we can be competitive in the region by the end of the season.”