Gerry Romberg, Westminster head coach
Today’s interviewee is Westminster coach Gerry Romberg, whose team opens the season Friday at home against Lovett. Romberg is in his 32nd season as Westminster’s coach. His record is 226-136 with a state title in 2015. He has faced Lovett, which is two miles away in Buckhead, more times than any other school. His record against the Lions is 17-12.
1. How do you explain your longevity at Westminster? “I ask myself that a lot. When I first got here, I had coached in college and knew I didn’t like recruiting, so I realized high school was a better fit. It’s just a good place here. I’ve always wanted to establish a program and be in a school situation where my 8 to 3 was also fulfilling and I wasn’t just a football coach because I really enjoy teaching physical education and health and now sports performances classes. I like the interaction with kids. There have been times when I’ve gotten frustrated. We don’t have the bigger, faster, stronger players that some have. There are times I wish I was coaching at that [kind of] school. One of my college coaches, Rusty Burns, who has coached at about 10 or 12 places [and is now an offensive analyst at TCU], he’d come by here and always say, ‘Don’t ever leave this job.’ He was a major Division I coach, and for him to say that, it really resonated. I also remember in 2008 and ’09 when we were in Buford’s region I’d think I’d love to coach at a place like that, and I remember talking to Jess Simpson [Buford’s coach at the time, now associate head coach at Duke], and he was talking about some issues they were having. He said it doesn’t matter where you coach, there will be problems. I realized the grass isn't always greener. There’s no utopia. Those interactions with those coaches really helped me. At the end of the day when you put the positives with the negatives, this is a great place with a great administration. I’ve been able to establish a program that has continuity and consistency. It’s been very rewarding, and I feel very blessed to have been here 32 years.”
2. What’s interesting about the Westminster-Lovett rivalry and your relationship with Lovett’s coach, Mike Muschamp? “When I first got the job at Westminster, Bill Railey was Lovett’s coach, and we weren’t on the schedule [to play each other]. There was an incident with some parents in the late ’80s. So I said to Bill that we really need to play this game for our community because it’s in such a close proximity. Bill felt the same way. We have a lot of split families. At Westminster, we have parents who have two kids at Westminster and one at Lovett, and vice versa. The community is very interwoven. All the players know each other. So we started playing again in 1994 and have played every year since. This is the 30th time I’ve coached against Lovett and the 20th time against Mike. Bill and I tried to establish a close relationship with the coaches so that parents and players could see that while it was a fierce rivalry, it was one of mutual respect. Mike and I felt the same way. Mike is a very close friend. Mike used to say that you could take Westminster’s players and Lovett’s players and switch uniforms and it would be the same game. He’s one of the best offensive coaches I’ve ever coached against. I was defensive coordinator for most of those years, and it’s always a challenge to go against him. After the game you realize where your weaknesses are because he’s so good at exploiting them. I always felt in a non-region game that we got so much better for playing them.”
3. What’s the outlook for Westminster this season? “You never feel you have enough time to get ready for the first game. We’re fortunate, or unfortunate, that we don’t do spring practice. The good is that we’re able to have two scrimmages [GHSA allows two if you don’t have one in spring]. So hopefully there was some progress from the first to the second scrimmage, and our kids got a game-like situation two weeks in a row. We’re still trying to figure out the quarterback position. We have two – Kent Perkins, a senior, and Michael Buhay, a junior. Perkins probably has the stronger arm. Buhay is a run threat. Both have skills that can help us. We have some really good skill players. At Westminster, we never have a lot of size in the line, and we don’t have a lot of depth in the line right now. We have seven or eight kids playing on both sides. That’s always a problem early, especially with the heat and humidity. We’ve got to find kids who can fill in five to 10 play on either side to spell some guys.”
4. GHSA reclassification is on the horizon. What do you hope happens? “First of all, I’m glad they’re going back to six classes. That’s really smart on the GHSA’s part. I’m hoping when the dust settles that we’re back in 2A. That’s where we should play and need to play. We’re a middle-of-the-road 2A school playing 4A. We have so many players going both ways. In our region, we had several teams that two-platoon. The year before, we were in a region with Cedar Grove and Sandy Creek, but we also had some games that weren’t as difficult. In this region last year, we played a competitive game every week, and as the season went by, we really got worn down with so many playing both ways. When we got to the playoff game with Lovett, we were decimated with injuries. The attrition took its toll. That’s the different part about going up. We’re playing against schools with 1,500 kids, and we have under 400 boys in our school. Let’s face it. Recruiting isn’t just a private-school or city-school issue. All schools, public or private, whether you want to believe it or not, might try to recruit players. We really can’t because of our academic restraints, and I never have. I believe that playing 2A