Todd Shuping Fired at Grimsley

Football coach Todd Shuping was fired on Monday afternoon by Grimsley athletic director Lewis Newman. Shuping led the Whirlies to the state champinship game back in 2005 where they lost to Greenville Rose. Shuping has been in charge of the Whirlie football program for the past four seasons.

Shuping whose career I have followed since he was back in high school at Smith HS also was the head coach at East Forsyth in Kernersville. Shuping was an assistant at Dudley, Grimsley, and also at East. Shuping was a linebacker for the Smith Golden Eagles and later played linebacker for the Guilford College Quakers. Shuping was an outstanding defensive player and many felt that defense was his strong suit.

Coach Saunders who was already on the Whirlie football coaching staff has been named head coach. We’re not sure if he will be coach for the upcoming season or if he is just in charge for the summer workouts. You’d think he would stay on and run the entire program. Grimsley just concluded hosting a 7 on 7 football jamboree back on Saturday with as many as 15 high schools attending and Coach Shuping was in charge of all of the activities. The coaching change toook place Monday afternoon.

There seems to have been some major problems that had been brewing between Coach Shuping and some of the new administration at Grimsley but we will not have all the details on that until later today.

Parents have told me that the Whirlie assistants ran the practices at Grimsley and that Coach Shuping was just a figure-head to some observers. I saw that myself while watching some of the early Grimsley practices last summer but many programs work that way where the head man leaves most of the hands-on practice work to his assistants and becomes a roving instructor.

Others have mentioned that Coach Shuping was more dedicated to his football work than he was to his academics. I know I have been guilty of that myself back in the day. The word is that Coach Shuping will not be teaching at Grimsley this upcoming school year so he is done completely with the Grimsley Whirlies. Word also is that Coach Shuping was told more than once to hit the academics harder but it just wasn’t happening, his focus was on football.

*****On a side-note, former Page and South Carolina quarterback Todd Ellis has been indicted down in Columbia, South Carolina for beig involved in a pyramid scheme. Ellis most recently has been the football play-by-play announcer for the South Carolina Gamecocks.*****

15 thoughts on “Todd Shuping Fired at Grimsley

  1. Wow Andy when you called to say that you had a bombshell to drop on all of us this is the thing I was least suspecting.

    I hope this doesn’t lead to the Whirlies going back into the dark ages in football but I suspect that it will. Only at Grimsley will they fire a coach for being successful and use the guise of his teaching record as the excuse.

    Personally I think this stinks to high heaven and shows that the administration is more concerned with their ego then with providing those student athletes who CHOOSE to sacrifice their time and energies with the best coaching possible. I can only hope that Coach Saunders can hold it together, but the scars of this will likely affect this team all season long. And the stain from this could take years to wash away.

    If Lewis Newman is thinking of going in a new direction, then go ahead and stick a fork in the Whirlies because the upheaval a new staff would cause this close to the season will just be too much to overcome. Plus it is doubtful that one could find a qualified candidate this close to the season, but if they really want to change direction I am sure John Bunting will be glad to talk with Newman (Seinfield-esque sneer).

    Grimsley for whatever reason just make it harder for the average coach to succeed. Which means obviously Todd Shuping was truly above average because he took a school that fielded a team that was rarely competitive and built a program that could compete with almost anyone.

    Heaven forbid though if Grimsley wins a few football games lest the academics suffer because you know nothing ruins those grades more having a good football team! I thought that the ‘politically correct’ disdain Grimsley has often shown towards athletics had finally been tempered, obviously I was dead wrong. Whomever snaps up Todd will be getting who I feel is the best coach in the reigon. Too bad Newman and the other administrators at Grimsley did not appriciate what Coach Shuping had accomplished.

  2. Once again, GreensboroSports.com scoops the News and Record. It would seem this is the place to be for breaking sports news in the “Boro!

  3. Academics? This guy was a P.E. teacher, weightroom at that. That is a sorry excuse if it is one.

  4. well, he did not get fired…he resigned, he had to resign…he walked out, he has tried to make it work for the past 3 years almost but, the school simply would not even give him a chance on what he is trying to do…12-1 last year (undefeated regular season) (14-2 the year before-and state title appearence) and they considering letting him leave. They are crazy. Shuping honestly new what he was doing and was building something speacial. He is the best coach i’ve ever had and a great motivator..he punished guys who had D on there reportcards by running hills untill you make that up…and that inspired almost the whole team to stay successful in class..GRIMSLEY WILL REGRET EVER FIRING COACH SHUPPING’ i mean the program has no other direction but to go down..undefeated seasons are not flukes. I promise you that grimley will eaither not go further than second round playoffs, or will just be horrible next year

  5. Sounds like from what I’ve been hearing that the coach was forced to resign or just flat out resign or be fired. Sounds like Coach Shuping did the right thing and took the high road. The word on the street is that there was a lot of back stabbing going on among the coaching staff at Grimsley. Coach Shuping got the credit for the success and the other coaches might have been jealous. If the coach was lax or slack in getting in his proper paper work to the administrators then they were going to come after him. Those deficencies caught up with Todd Shuping.

    Rob Gasprelello may have been the one that got these details initiated and then the new people that took over in the front office continued on with the hounding of Shuping. Shuping was a football purist and with today’s educational leaders that bothers them to no degree. Sports takes a back seat to education until the administration begins to see a balance.

    It is obvious that someone was out to get Shuping, either someone in the front office or one of his assistant coaches.

  6. I would love to hear some more from Coach Shuping’s former players. David Hoggard said at hoggsblog.com that he is happy that coach Mark Saunders took over the team. Hoggard said that Saunders was the offensive genius that made the team go the past few years. Hogg’s son Jake played for Grimsley and I believe he was solid contributor to the success of the offensive line. Josh Stewart had a good run as the Grimsley QB. I wonder what his people are saying? I know his uncle Jason and his dad Aaron and I’m curious to know what they are thinking. I hope we can hear from some other Grimsley students past or present that played football for Coach Shuping or just what do all of the Grimsley students in general have to say about Todd Shuping’s dismissal?

  7. You people are at it again. Just trying to stir up trouble. The game is over and the new coach is in charge. Follow the direction of Coach Shuping and move on. Get all your facts straight before you hang the coach out to dry. I bet coach Shuping and he ‘aint going to be happy seeing people trashing him. He was one the hardest working coaches we ever had. T

  8. As I was saying before the lightning tried to run in on my computer, we need to support the new coach and wish Coach Shuping the best wherever he ends up. I don’t need to be seeing negative comments on here, I want to see people that will support the WhirleNation through thick and thin.

    a Whirlie Fan

  9. Grimsley’s athletic program is a joke and this is just another example of the”Losers on Westover” being the losers that they are. It took these clowns 30 YEARS to beat Page in football and finally they have a “decent” football coach and they fire him. Now the Whirlies can go back to being the laughing stock of Greensboro and Page and Dudley can once again represent this city with pride and not make us look foolish like Grimsley did a couple of years ago in Raleigh. Laughing my @$$ off! W-H-I-R-L-I-E-S = L-O-S-E-R-S

  10. Coach Shuping was a good coach at Grimsley. Plain and simple.

    But, Grimsley isn’t going to be as good as they have been in the past 2 years. IMHO

    Not because of a coaching change though.

    Solely for the fact that, when a offense graduates the starting QB, FB, and RB that contribute to 90% of the wing-t triple option run offense. Its going to drag a team down alot.

    I am not saying this just because I’m a Page fan, because i have alot of respect for the Grimsley football program as of late.

    Just my $0.02

  11. I had a chat with Coach Shup last year, and he was already under pressure (new AD) and didn’t think he was going to be at Grimsley much longer

  12. Grimsley is in excellent hands with Mark Saunders. Despite what others think he has been the driving force behind Grimsley’s success for the past three years. You will not have a better coach who understands both football and academics at the highest of levels. Former whirlie players from 04-present know the truth. Give him his due because without him there would have NEVER been a 14-2 or 12-1 season. BELIEVE IT OR NOT!!!

  13. COACH can you tell us more and why did the two assistants quit, one was Troutman and the other ?. Give us more coach like who will lead the Whirlies on the the field this season? Is the QB Maynard and is Moore back full strength in the backfield and is Keenan Allen set to take off and leave the others behind? Your thoughts COACH and thanks for checking in. Andy Durham…..

  14. coach shuping was a great coach not just to me but to all of his players, he made sure that your grades were right and always had an open door if you had a problem. It’s been a year or two in his absence and the summer workouts and year round training don’t have the same fire that they used to. He was definitely the best coach i had ever had and will be missed by grimsley forever…..

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