News from Nov. 20, 2007:

Proctor steps down

After 44 seasons on the sideline and 302 victories, Strasburg's coach retires

By Craig Juer -- Daily Staff Writer

STRASBURG — Glenn Proctor's career has been characterized, at least in part, by intense, unflagging competitiveness.

As a child, he flipped over board games when the outcome was not favorable; as a grown-up, he put thousands of miles on his odometer attending coaching conferences and invested hundreds of dollars in books authored by coaching legends.

"I remember when we started in August, he came in and he was so excited for the season," assistant coach Brian Kibler said. "He was like a kid at Christmastime, he had waited all year for football season. He would tell us that he was up at 3 a.m. trying to think of ways that we could stop this team or to get our guys ready to face this team."

His competitiveness, ultimately, was the reason he stepped down after 44 years at Strasburg on Monday.

"I told the kids today, a lot of people would've loved to have been 6-4," said Proctor, whose Rams have made four trips to the state championship game but none since 1995. "But, I said, for us it's just not good enough. If you want to be in a 6-4, 5-5 program year-in and year-out, I don't want to be a part of that. That's just not me. Because I expect more than that."

Proctor said the struggles of the last five years convinced him that change was needed, and as the face of the program, he initiated change with his own position.

"I don't like to let people down,' Proctor, 66, said. "Mediocrity in Strasburg is just not acceptable. It never has been, nor should it be.

"If I were 20 years younger, I might could endure it."

It's nothing new that teenagers are different than when Proctor first started coaching. Coach-imposed curfews, hair and dress codes, and practice-field discipline are no longer in vogue. Proctor suggested maybe it's time to let someone with different ideas take the reins.

"I don't want to stand in the way of progress," he said. "Sometimes you just need change. It could be any number of changes. Our pre-game locker room decorum is one of quietness. Who knows, maybe they need to go in there and play some loud music. I don't know. That goes on at a lot of schools."

Strasburg basketball coach Millson French said change will be difficult for many in the community, considering what Proctor (302-169-7 at Strasburg) accomplished in his tenure.

"Whoever the next coach is they will have a lot to live up to," he said. "Expectations might be a little too high. It would be unfair to try and compare them with him. People in the community are going to have to understand that."

After winning one game, his debut, in his first season, Proctor won his 100th in 1984, then took the Rams to state title games in 1987, 1988, 1992 and 1995. In 2002, he was inducted into the Virginia High School Hall of Fame, and on Sept. 21 he won his 300th game, a 30-13 victory over Page County. Monday, however, he said he hoped to be remembered for something else.

"You won't ever see our kids get out of line in a game," he said. "They play fair, they play hard, they play clean.

"They know that I've always had zero tolerance for trash-talking and showboating and that kind of thing."

Proctor said he recently told someone it had occurred to him that he's had the same fall routine since 1953. Pressed to explain, he said he's spent the past 55 autumns consumed by football.

"I said, 'Well, when I was in eighth grade I started playing football in junior high school,'" Proctor recalled. "'Three years of high school football, then four years of college football, and I coached two years in West Virginia. That was in '62 and '63, and I came here in '64, and 44 years here.'

"I hardly know things like trick-or-treating, or whatever else people do in the fall."

Though the habit of spending his time wrapped up in football isn't one he'll break, Proctor said he did not know if he would be able to attend Rams games next season.

"That will be like a bittersweet experience, I would think, to go watch the kids that you coached," he said. "It'll be emotional, because you look at them and say, 'Those are my kids.' But yet, they're someone else's kids. It'll be awkward, but I certainly am going to try to do that."

He will eventually adjust to having free time when the leaves turn brown, but right now it's obvious there's something he'd rather be doing.

"We always told our players that practicing on Thanksgiving Day [for a playoff game] is a big thrill," said Proctor, whose Rams haven't been in contention this late in the season since 2001. "We want to plan to practice on Thanksgiving Day."

* Contact Craig Juer at cjuer@nvdaily.com