A familiar face will be back on the sidelines this football season in Blacksburg.
Dave Crist retired in 2014 after 40 years as the head coach at Blacksburg High School. Now he is returning the football field as an assistant for the Blacksburg Middle School team.
Kevin Miller who is the head coach at BMS said he had always looked upon his former coach for advice.
“To be honest, people don’t know, but he really never stopped coaching. I talked with coach C every week for the last three seasons. Any time I had a issue/problem on my team, I would call and discuss with coach and ask advice. I felt like, no matter what the situation was, he had already dealt with the same situation a dozen or so times (in his 40yrs) and what better person to ask for advice than one that’s “been there, done that,” he said.
Miller cites Crist for the reason he is coaching and had asked hm several times to help coach the middle schoolers.
“Like I said, I’ve been after him for a couple seasons to coach and last year, he came to pre-game and talked to my team before the Giles game and Christiansburg game. If you could’ve only been there. It took all of us back (all my coaches played and coached for him) to when we were players and the inspiration that he delivers is second to none,” the younger coach said.
Miller said he and his players will be blessed to have him on the sideline, meeting room and practice field this year.
Crist, who is now 72 years old, finished with a 238-195-4 record at helm of the varsity team. He won state titles in 1977 and 1989, and his teams were state runner-ups in 1985 and 1985. For now, Crist will coach just one season, but Miller is hoping for more in the future.
