For over 50 years, New England Basketball Hall of Famer John Cordio has done it the right way, giving his all to help the teams he has coached be as successful as possible. And for many of those years, he’s been alongside a Grutchfield - first the legendary late Doug Grutchfield and the powerful Red Raiders teams of the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, and now under Doug’s son Kevin, where Cordio was an instrumental part of the Blue Devils’ deep postseason a year ago.
Now in his second season with Kevin Grutchfield and the Blue Devils, Cordio said he sees a lot of similarities between Kevin and his father.
“One of the biggest similarities is the intensity that he has as a coach,” Cordio said of Kevin. “Coach (Doug) Grutchfield was very intense. He demanded a lot of you. He figured if you were out for the sport, you might as well give it your all. Don’t come in here and go through the motions and that’s the way coach (Kevin) Grutchfield is. Kevin is very, very, intense and he wants to be a winner like his father.”
Kevin said he was happy to get the opportunity to bring Cordio on board at LHS.
“He and coach Cordio were very close friends for over 40 years,” Kevin said of the relationship between his father and Cordio. “Most of those years were when they were coaching Fitchburg High School. I have known him most of my life and have always had a close relationship to him. He brings an incredible amount of knowledge and wisdom to our program.”
At Fitchburg High, Doug Grutchfield and Cordio’s teams won 21 league championships and seven district Division One titles. They reached the state semifinals five times and the state finals twice. The Red Raiders made 28 straight district appearances. Doug Grutchfield’s combined career wins at Fitchburg High School, Amherst High School and Belmont High School totaled 588, making him one of winningest basketball coaches in Massachusetts high school history.
Now on the other side of the Fitchburg-Leominster rivalry, Cordio goes about his business like he always has.
“I always keep saying to the kids, you can go through the motions and be the best player but you got to give it your all,” Cordio said. “It’s team-first and then you but if you dedicate and do what you are supposed to do, we will get there. It’s a team sport and that’s what I love about it.”
Cordio also relishes his vital role as an assistant.
“I have always been an assistant,” Cordio said. “I love being an assistant coach and I love the game of basketball and I love the kids. Just getting up every day and seeing the kids and talking to them and trying to teach them one little aspect of the game. I just love it. I probably love practice more than I like games.”
Kevin Grutchfield said Cordio is the ideal assistant coach.
“My dad was very intense and authoritarian,” Grutchfield said. “Coach Cordio was a perfect complement to Doug. He was the calming voice of knowledge the kids could go to when my dad was domineering and hard to communicate with. I'm finding that I have some of the same traits my dad had and John is doing the same things for me as he did with my dad. John is successful wherever he goes because he works extremely hard and is great with kids. He has such knowledge of the game and his run of success is unparalleled.”
Prior to coming to Leominster, Cordio was an assistant under former player Mark Piece at St. Bernard’s for 16 seasons.
When Pierce stepped down at St. Bernard’s, Cordio jumped at the opportunity to coach at Leominster with Kevin Grutchfield. Grutchfield said Cordio’s impact has been significant.
“He really cares about our players and they know it,” Grutchfield said. “He is passionate and works hard to make us better everyday. He joined our staff last year and immediately had an impact on practice plans and game planning as well as skill development and scouting. He along with Coach Justin Dadah love to scout, watch film and work with kids. He has always done things the right way and always is positive.”
Cordio said Kevin teaches the game similarly to the way Doug did.
“It’s repetition,” Cordio said. “I mean we do the same thing every day. It’s the fundamentals, it’s shooting, it’s setting the pick the same way and it’s execution. You do the right execution by repetition so if you do the same thing over and over and over, it’s just between you and one individual but if you keep doing it the right way, you’re going to be successful.”
Kevin Grutchfield played at Worcester Academy and Eastern Connecticut State before starting his coaching career at Norwich where he was an assistant coach from 1997-2000. In 2000, he took over the Lunenburg girls’ program until 2006 when left to take over as the head coach for the Anna Maria’s women’s basketball team. Following a two-year stint at Anna Maria, Grutchfield coached the Leominster girls’ basketball team from 2008-2016. In 2016 Kevin was named the Leominster boys’ basketball coach where the program has flourished of late.
“I think the recent success we have had has been a combination of our kids buying into the ideas of hard work, dedication and working on your game year round,” Grutchfield said. “We have really established a program based on summer league and AAU in the summer months as well as establishing a Fall League team that runs in the months leading up to the season. Our kids really have bought into our system and want to work hard to be the best. It is a matter of taking it one day at a time and doing your best on that day.”
As for assessing his own coaching style, he sees some similarities and differences when comparing his style to his dads.
“I'm similar to my dad in intensity and overall philosophy of pressure defense and uptempo offense,” Grutchfield said. “We're different in personality. He was very outgoing, boisterous and commanded every room he was in. Although I can be loud on the court, I prefer to be behind the scenes. I'm much more reserved than he was.”
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