By JC | WeRockTV
Some people spend their lives collecting trophies. Others spend theirs changing people. Coach Greg Echols has done both.
For decades in Mountain Brook athletics, Echols built championship programs. His teams amassed 68 state championships, and in 2008 he was inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame. But when he retired in 2015, what mattered most to him was the difference he made in children’s lives.
More Than a Winning Record
Echols spent 38 years coaching in the Mountain Brook school system. Education ran in his family: his parents taught in Mountain Brook schools, and his grandmother taught at Crestline when it was a two-room schoolhouse. Coaching was not merely about the stopwatch or the trophy case. It was about recognizing potential, developing character, and encouraging young people to grow.
A Different Kind of Finish Line
After retiring from coaching, Echols served Birmingham AMBUCS, now known as Iron City Trykes, which provides adaptive therapeutic tricycles to children with disabilities. The mission helps children experience greater mobility, independence, and the simple joy of riding alongside their friends.
Imagine watching other children ride bicycles for years, then finally receiving a tricycle designed for your own needs. That is more than recreation. It is freedom, dignity, and a chance to participate.
A PBS feature has highlighted the organization’s work. The man who once helped athletes cross finish lines found another way to help children experience victory.
The Relationship Behind the Results
A championship coach cannot build a team through stopwatch readings alone. He must understand people, earn trust, and see possibility where others might see limitations.
A 2023 Over the Mountain Journal profile described runner Alex Leath crediting Echols with recognizing his athletic potential in seventh grade. Encouragement at the right moment can change a young person’s trajectory.
The Next Chapter: Relational Coaching
According to information shared with WeRockTV, Echols is developing a novel exploring relational coaching. Its title, publication date, and storyline have not yet been independently confirmed.
Still, the subject offers an intriguing connection to his career. How do we help people communicate without controlling them? How do we encourage accountability without condemnation? How do we recognize potential in someone who cannot yet recognize it in themselves?
Relationships grow through listening, humility, patience, and the willingness to examine our own behavior. A good coach cannot run the race for an athlete. The athlete must take the steps. Likewise, we cannot force understanding or manufacture trust, but we can choose honesty, boundaries, and grace.
A Story Worth Following
At WeRockTV, we celebrate Good News. Good Music. Good Works. Coach Echols’ documented athletic achievements and community service fit that mission. His reported novel could open a further conversation about the relationships that shape our lives.
After decades of coaching champions, perhaps the most interesting question is no longer how to win a race. Perhaps it is how to help people navigate life together.
“Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (KJV)
— JC
Leave a Reply