NORTH ROBINSON, OH (CRAWFORD COUNTY NOW)—A veteran track and cross-country coach at Colonel Crawford High School is racking up another accolade – Coach of the Month sponsored by Lewis Family McDonald’s.

Jody Grove, who’s in her 45th season as the head girls’ track coach, also coached cross country for 26 years. During that time, she’s built a program steeped in tradition with many teams and individuals earning state championships for the Eagles.

“I enjoy it. I enjoy it, especially when you have state championship success,” said Grove, who also graduated from Colonel Crawford. “You want to keep on going, continue to enjoy that journey with them.”

Grove’s Lady Eagles won three consecutive state titles in 1990, 1991, and 1992, plus the boy’s track team brought home the state championship trophy in 2016 and the girls earned the same title four years ago.

Grove is a member of the Ohio Track & Field Hall of Fame. She also received the prestigious Fred Dafler award – another state honor – in 2009 for her coaching achievements as a member of the Ohio Association of Track and Cross-Country Coaches, OATCCC.

On the local level, she was inducted into the Crawford County Sports Hall of Fame and was named “Coach of the Year” multiple times for the District 6 All-N 10 League.

Grove was hired in 1981 as an intervention specialist at the high school but said she just “kinda’ fell into coaching,” first as a substitute for head girls’ track coach Ted Bruner. She then landed that job when Bruner switched over to coach the boys.

Over the years, she has coached children of her former athletes, as well as her daughter, Mariah Slaughter, who ran track and cross country. Son Matt Grove excelled in shotput and discus, while other son, Michael Grove, earned All-Ohio honors in baseball.

“I’m very fortunate to work with good families, good athletes,” Grove said. “But I always tell them, ‘It’s not me.’ If you believe in them, they’re going to believe in themselves also and I think that’s one of the staples to getting me where I am today.”

Grove retired from teaching in 2014 after 34 years with the district. But this grandmother of four has no plans to step away from coaching. In fact, she now shares the field with the school’s new head boy’s track coach, Joe Bauer, who she used to coach years ago.

“I’ve seen a lot of coaches come and go, but I’m amazed at the number of kids from Colonel Crawford who are coaching at area schools. They want to still be involved as adults, and now we’re coaching together.”

“There’s a culture and a program here and we’re proud of it.”