Coach Howell: Green Wave "On the Right Path"

Easley High School Head Football Coach Grayson Howell respects the Green Wave's history and is eager to start some new traditions as well.

Howell spoke at an Easley Chamber of Commerce luncheon Thursday.

He said he wished the team could play at Brice Field.

“That would be my preference,” he said. “The history and traditions at that field right down the road – I would love to have had the opportunity to coach there, but what we're looking forward to is starting new traditions. Our theme for this year at school is 'A new wave is coming.' We're going to try to creat memories at a place that a new generation can remember. That will be their home.

He told chamber members he thinks the Green Wave is on the right path.

“We have a ninth grade team, we have a JV team and we have a varsity team,” Howell said. “Nobody else in our county is doing that so hopefully that's going to go well for us.”

He said the team wants to not only win the Easley-Pickens game, but raise the most money for Pickens County Meals on Wheels in the Sam Wyche Food Fight Bowl as well.”

“We talk to our guys about being champions all the time, on and off the field, in the classroom, no matter where they are,” Howell said. “We're going to work hard to be the ones who win that.”

Howell urges the fans to support the team, win or lose.

“What our coaches are asked to do and what our players are asked to do is special and it does not need to be devalued by anybody,” he said. “That public pressure and that public responsibility we feel as men is not to be taken lightly – and we don't. We ask for your support in every possible way.

“In the end, those are 16- and 17-year old kids who are giving up their afternoons, who are giving up their vacations, they're giving up their summertime to represent you as a community, to represent your town and have Easley across their chest,” Howell said. “I promise you, there's not a kid on our team who on Friday night we'll go out there and intentionally make a mistake. They're not out there to make mistakes. They're not trying to throw interceptions, they're not trying to miss tackles, they're not trying to fumble the football. It's just not a part of who we are. So love them when they win, love them when they make mistakes and do the same thing with the coaching staff.”

Howell and his staff want to make sure each player has an “A1 experience.”

“A lot of them aren't going to play for Clemson or Carolina, where all their cleats are free, all their gloves are free, where they get all they could ever ask for,” he said. “So those who don't have that experience, we want to help provide that for them here. Friday night for them is their Saturday for the guys who run down the hill or run through the smoke in Columbia. You guys play a big part of that by being there and supporting them and yelling for them and being positive … lifting them up.”

Friday night's game against Pickens is a “green out”. Easley fans are encouraged to wear as much green as possible to make Green Wave Stadium a “sea of green.”