State championship coach Sam Greiner wants another chance after West Charlotte exit
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High school football kicks off Thursday and it will start without Sam Greiner on the sidelines.
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That irks him.
Greiner was placed on suspension less than a week after leading the Lions to the state semifinals against Hough last season. A few weeks later, he was removed as coach and shifted to a CMS middle school.
“My mom is a retiree of CMS,” Greiner said. “Guess where I went to elementary school? CMS. Guess where I went to middle school, CMS. Guess where I graduated from? Butler High School, CMS. I’ve won two championships in CMS. I am a part of that history whether they like me or not. Have I ever broken the law? You can look at my record. I’m clean. When I was suspended, I was cleared. Let’s look and pull the layers back. How bad can I be?”
As he said, Greiner has won two state championships in the past nine years. In 2017, he led Harding to its first state championship in 64 years. In 2024, he led West Charlotte to its first in 29.
But after leading the Lions to the state semifinals, Greiner — who has nearly 90,000 social media followers and has appeared multiple times on national TV — found himself out of job.
He said he still doesn’t know why.
Last week, Greiner, a longtime co-host of The Charlotte Observer’s Talking Preps streaming show, sat down with the media company for an interview. He talked about missing the game, but enjoying a summer with his family, being misunderstood — and definitely wanting to coach again.
His answers are edited for brevity and clarity.
Q. Another season and you’re not coaching. You sat out seven years ago after leaving a coaching job at Hickory Ridge. This time, West Charlotte let you go. How are you feeling?
SG: It’s like Slim Shady. OK? Like, what is it gonna be without me? So I’m gonna be on Talking Preps, full throttle this year, visiting games every week, and I’m gonna grow. I’m gonna take this time to actually grow and be a better coach for the future.
Q: Does it hurt not being involved in coaching?
SG: It does, but in perspective, sometimes you think you know everything. And the last game I played, I lost. And there’s a reason why we lost. And so, I want to be able to visit (Providence Day coach) Chad Grier. I want to visit Butler High School and look at what (new coach Donald) Littlejohn’s doing. (I want to go see Robert) Williams (the new coach at Independence), go see West Charlotte. See, how (new Lions’ coach) DJ McFadden is doing. What he’s doing different than I was doing?
And if I look at it that way, that I can grow and get better, there (won’t be so much) much salt in the wound. I’ll be involved.
Q. What was it like when practice started officially last month and you didn’t have a whistle?
SG: Me and my son, 4 years old, were tossing him a football around. But it wasn’t necessarily the same. The anticipation, it’s like Christmas Day, the first day of official practice. It was different because for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t involved.
Q. You’ve lost about 25 pounds and look refreshed.
SG: (Coaching) is still cool to do, but it is very time-consuming. This summer, I’ve had the best summer I’ve ever had. I really have.
Q. Have you talked much to your former West Charlotte players?
SG: I talk to at least (one) every week, and I’ve been talking to a lot of players, even ones that I didn’t coach. I’m very intrigued by how their careers are going and I’m excited for them. And I get to talk with them a little bit on social media as well.
Q. West Charlotte lost about a dozen players in the offseason. If you were still there, would those players have stayed?
SG: Yes, I could have probably lost 1 or 2. I definitely wouldn’t have lost 12. I think we would have been projecting to try to keep on competing with Hough. We would have been one of the top 3 teams in the state. (West Charlotte) has a lot of great talent. Remember, our JVs haven’t really lost in a long time. They have a young quarterback ( freshman Devareus Hill). He is special.
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Q. Do you think you were forced out of West Charlotte for no reason? There are lots of rumors about why you were let go.
SG: I still do not know. I’ve had a lot of turnover there. I’ve had three principals and four athletic directors in my five-year tenure. Every single one of them, I really appreciated and had a great relationship with. (Current Lions’ principal) Paula Cook, who’s still there today, we won a championship together. She’s the one, unfortunately, that let me go.
I don’t know if it was exactly her decision. I love her to death. She’s great. I think that maybe she was pressured. By what? I don’t know, which is OK. All that will come out. I did not do anything illegal. There was an investigation that went on. I wouldn’t be able to teach today (if I broke the law). Everything I’ve always done has been for kids.
Q. So why are you so controversial?
SG: Here’s the thing with me. I used to try to make people happy all the time. I didn’t like it when people disliked me. It hurt. But there’s a reason why pro wrestling is really good. You have heels and you have heroes. I think I play on that line where I’m some people’s hero and I’m some people’s heel. But I like being there now because people, if they don’t like me, they show themselves. Sometimes you can get real big trouble when you don’t know who your enemies are.
I know who my enemies are. I try to love everyone I can. I don’t have a lot of kids leave. We send kids to college. We keep relationships even today (with players who) are already in the NFL or in college.
Q. So what was the disconnect at West Charlotte?
SG: I think that people who are not (directly) involved with West Charlotte, but appreciate West Charlotte’s history, never could get over the fact that I was there. I think they like where we left it and thought maybe they can ride the wave and were like, “Maybe we don’t need Sam Greiner or the staff that he had.” And that’s gonna be determined if (they were right) or not, you know? Maybe I’m worth more after a year, when you find out maybe West Charlotte’s not as compatible as it was the year before. I don’t wish that upon them. A lot of kids there are some of my favorites I’ve ever coached.
But you either love me or you hate me, and I’m OK with that.
Q. Let’s talk about the hair. You were a white man at an all-Black school with dreadlocks. Did that make people form opinions about you?
SG: Could it have rubbed some people the wrong way? Definitely. But that was not my intention. If you look at Harding, I had a man bun. But when I get to a program, I always do something about growing my hair out because I want them to understand going through the process and that the struggle is going to be tough. My wife hates long hair.
So for me to be better at my job, I got to push myself to be able to cut my hair. At West Charlotte, I was like “I’m going to grow my hair out and I’m not going to cut it until we win a championship.” And they said, “If you’re with us, you gotta dread it.” I said, “I don’t know if my hair will do that.” I grew my hair out and we dreaded it and I actually got my hair done at the cosmetology school at West Charlotte most of the time. And they do a great job. But it was not to be someone else.
If you go back to my college days, I had corn rolls. It’s just, I’m different. If someone does not know me or takes the time to sit down and get to know my heart, yes, I can completely understand from the outside someone looking in and be like, “Who’s this guy think he is? This is a cocky individual.”
Q. You say you’re not cocky, but do you have a loud personality?
SG: But if I didn’t have the personality I have or the bravado, do you think I would ever be hired at a West Charlotte? Or a Harding? Or grab the attention of the kids?
Q. So how do you keep going through all of this? What’s the future?
SG: A coach doesn’t define who I am. It’s what lives inside me that drives me. Sometimes I’m so stubborn and I think God understands I’m stubborn. I would have retired at West Charlotte. I said, “I love it here. I love the kids. I love the turnover.” I know it’s tough. I know that there’s absolutely a possibility that a new principal happens every three years or whatever, which is sad, because I think every one of them was great. But I enjoyed it (at West Charlotte). I was let go, and it was not my choice.
Q. Will you change if you get another head coaching job, particularly in or around Charlotte?
SG: No. I’ll probably grow my hair out, make some type of deal with the kids and let them know that I’m on their level, like, “Hey, I’m gonna go through the struggle with you.” I’m gonna be me because every time I’ve been somewhere more than a year, let’s just be honest — and I’ll toot my own horn, and this will make people mad — but if I’ve been to a place more than a year, we won a championship.
Q. Would you like to coach in CMS again?
SG: Yeah. But I know I’m not a yes man. If that’s someone they’re looking for, that’s not me. I am respectful of my leaders and I am a winner. I’m not afraid to say what I think. I think that it’s cool to be able to talk to people. That’s all I wish, that they would sit down and be like, you know what? Sam Greiner is actually good for CMS.
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Q: Last question, will Sam Greiner ever win another state championship?
SG: (Laughs). If I’m given the opportunity, I guarantee it.
