Westside coach Josh Grube leads Seminoles basketball, girls flag football to new heights

Westside basketball and flag football coach Josh Grube is somewhat reluctant about plenty of things.

He is, foremost, not keen on talking about himself. He’s kind enough to give an interview on short notice, but repeatedly asks not to become the focus of a conversation. He directs focus to his players, past and present — ones he remembers fondly, ones that are now in college trying to make a case for themselves to turn pro.

Grube’s reluctance isn’t just humility. His career has been one of slight hesitancy at each turn. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to become a coach when his pal floated the idea by him in 1999 while he was a college student.

“I didn’t grow up saying I wanna coach. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do,” said Grube of his Houston County childhood and young adulthood in college. “I actually knew (current Troup County football coach) Tanner Glisson at Gordon State on the baseball team and he just brought it up.”

The coach ended up listening to his close friend and started coaching football at Rutland Middle School. Even then, he only signed on because one of his former high school coaches was there. But the move paid off — more than two decades later, Grube is still in the game, and he’s part of a new chapter of Macon sports history.

Getting to Westside

After a move from Rutland to Weaver Middle School, the biggest shift in Grube’s career came when Sheddrick Risper, better known to the Macon masses as Spoon Risper, left Weaver and took the helm at Westside’s football program.

“He’s a legend,” Grube said. “I’m really grateful he brought me along. I had been an assistant coach with him, and he just asked if I wanted to come with.”

Grube’s transition to Westside was perhaps the only move of his career that he didn’t meet with marginal skepticism. But before Davis retired and Risper took over on the football field, a unique opportunity arrived — Westside’s head basketball coach slot opened up. Here came that reluctance again.

“If I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t sure about it. But we’re here 17 years later, aren’t we? And I have loved it,” Grube said. “These teams have meant a lot to me, they’ve changed me. Coaching helps me be more honest with myself.”

As is the case with most first-time head coaches, Grube’s tenure started off slow when he took the reins in the 2008-09 season. In his first four years he did manage to make the playoffs three times, but lost in the first round each time.

The 2013 slate brought a surprise Sweet 16 appearance thanks to Ronnie Mays breaking out, but two more first-round exits followed. The program under Grube was having relative success in region play, regularly finishing second, but couldn’t click on all cylinders in the postseason.

That was about to change.

Knowing a star

Grube is reluctant about some things, but does not hesitate when it comes to one subject: his players.

His recall is quick. Unlike some coaches who tend to waffle when asked about a favorite memory or a choice moment, Grube rattles off the exact career-defining event he remembers most.

“When we lost to Pace Academy in double overtime, at their place,” he says instantly, referencing the Seminoles’ 2017 Elite 8 matchup. “If there had been a shot clock that time, we probably would have won the championship. We were the two best teams that year.”

Instead, Pace went on to claim the state title. But Westside’s Elite 8 appearance, and the team’s spirited performance against the eventual champion, raised eyebrows. It also signified the official arrival of a new star, Khavon Moore.

Moore broke out the year prior to lead the team in scoring before they went on a Sweet 16 run, but the Elite 8 season saw him average more than 23 points per game and lead the team in rebounding, records show.

“But then after the Elite 8, the next year, we get this heartbreaker. Khavon breaks his leg,” Grube said. “You think, ‘Well, that’s that, isn’t it?’”

Moore suffered the injury right at the end of the season in early 2018, his senior year, after leading the Seminoles in scoring. Westside would enter the playoffs without their star.

“Then we just break through, almost doing it for him. We made the Final Four,” Grube said of the 2018 GHSA tournament.

The run to the penultimate round of the playoffs is perhaps the best showing by a Macon boys basketball team in the past decade. While the Seminoles succeeded consistently in the following years, they haven’t been able to equal it.

“That’s the ultimate goal. We’re trying to get back there, advance that far,” Grube said.

Moore went on to play college ball at Texas Tech and Clemson, but was swiftly followed at Westside by highly-touted star Kowacie Reeves, who is now creating buzz with Georgia Tech with a potential NBA career looming.

Grube is reluctant, again, to single out one player as the best. He comes close to saying as much about Reeves.

“Kowacie might be the best player I’ve had the opportunity to work with as a coach,” he said. “I’ve had so many amazing athletes come through here. That has really continued the Macon basketball tradition. This city has always had great athletes.”

In addition to contributing to a basketball tradition with a lengthy history, Grube has had a hand in starting a new one in the form of flag football.

“I didn’t necessarily want that position either, at first, I guess that’s a trend,” Grube said with a chuckle. “They talked about starting flag football up, and I didn’t really want to add another coaching position to my workload then.”

The Atlanta Falcons funded several flag football programs in Macon, Grube said, which sparked the interest of several female athletes at Westside. Once he saw how passionate the group was about the sport, he took the gig.

“I mean, it’s so big we’ve had to cut people, man. That’s how many want to do this,” the coach said about the girls flag football team. “I’m just happy we got the opportunity. And it’s given me the chance for a lot more self-reflection.”

That reflection has included toning down his emotions. The coach says he can get “too fired up” sometimes, and that the more he coaches different sports, the more he tries to better himself.

Flag football has been more than just a success in spirit, too — the team is 27-6 in two seasons and made the playoffs both years.

“I won’t lie, it’s an extreme challenge. It is really tough to do both,” Grube said. “But it’s been worth it in every way. It’s helped me so much, and I think it’s helped them too. Worth it in every way.”