Greg Nord, BD'74, Returns to Coach at the University of Kentucky

Greg Nord, a Bishop David 1974 graduate, has returned to help coach the University of Kentucky Football Team.  Greg, who played for the  Wildcats  in the mid-1970's, was named tight ends and special teams coach on Tuesday, July 13th. Below is the complete article found in the Courier Journal on July 14, 2010.  Congratulations Greg!


COURIER JOURNAL.COM
July 14, 2010

Ex-player, coach Greg Nord back at Kentucky to 'be the best'

By Brett Dawson

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- It had been a long time coming for Greg Nord to slip back into a University of Kentucky football shirt.

Nord, who played for the Wildcats in the mid-1970s, was named tight ends and special teams coach on Tuesday and met with reporters on Wednesday.

"It sends goose pimples up your arms," Nord said of being back in UK gear. "It's a great feeling."

Twenty-one years after he left the Kentucky coaching staff, Nord returned to work for new head coach Joker Phillips, a coaching partnership that has its roots in the 1980s, when Phillips played for UK and Nord was on the staff.

The relationship continued to grow as Phillips began his coaching career with the Wildcats.

Phillips and Nord would share rides on recruiting trips -- Phillips waited in the car, Nord said, when he was a graduate assistant who wasn't allowed to evaluate players -- and  to Southeastern Conference  outings.

During those hours spent together, Nord said that he and Phillips realized that they had "great dreams" for themselves as coaches, and for the UK program.

It was the chance to work toward those goals that brought Nord back to replace Steve Ortmayer, who was let go at the end of June.

Nord spent 15 seasons as an assistant coach at Louisville under Ron Cooper, John L. Smith, Bobby Petrino and Steve Kragthorpe. He had yet to coach a season at Illinois, where he was hired in December as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator on Ron Zook's staff.

The lure of UK and Phillips made it easy to walk away from that job during the summer, Nord said.

"The timing perhaps maybe wasn't what any of us would have liked, but the decision was not hard at all," Nord said. "This is a destination job. That's part of what made it attractive, both for Joker and myself. This is our school. This is where we want to go win championships together."

Though Nord never has been listed as a special teams coach during his career, he said he's been "very hands-on" with special teams over the years. He favors an attacking style.

"I've coached every phase of special teams there is in football," Nord said. "I've actually run several of the phases."

He also has built a reputation as a strong recruiter and a top-flight developer of tight ends, and said he's eager to continue in both those capacities at UK.

Mostly, though, Nord said he's excited to help his alma mater, which has played in four straight bowl games, continue its upward mobility.

"If I did not think that was the goal of (athletic director Mitch) Barnhart and Coach Phillips and the whole community, I wouldn't have wanted to come back," Nord said. "I'm not coming back here (to) my school to be mediocre. I'm coming back here to help this program be the best there is."