Family man, football coach, devout Christian: Gregory Crager came to the Oldenburg Knights from his native Alabama in the spring. Now he is head coach and is preparing for the new GFL2 season.
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Oldenburg – It should awaken feelings of home when the German radio stations delight Gregory Crager with “Sweet Home Alabama”. The 43-year-old, who was promoted to head coach of the Oldenburg Knights this fall, comes from the small community of Millry in the southwest of the US state on the Gulf of Mexico and has spent almost his entire life in the region. After a GFL2 season as offensive coordinator, he is now leading the Knights as head coach in their third season in Germany’s second highest American football league – and is thinking in larger temporal dimensions.
The faith
“I think the minimum we will stay in Germany is two years,” Crager said as he moved with his wife and two children from Alexander City to Bremen in the spring. “It could also be five or ten. Or the rest of my life – only God knows,” added the devout Christian and teacher, who can absolutely imagine putting down roots here in the long term and bringing his football experiences from almost three decades as a player and coach to the Knights wants.
The Stations of Gregory Crager
As a player In football, Gregory Crager mostly played as a running back and linebacker on the field. He wore the Millry Wildcats jersey in high school and the Auburn Tigers jersey as a student teacher. As is usual in the USA, he was also active in the other major sports of baseball and basketball.
As a coach Crager started in his early 20s with the Eastside Eagles in the neighboring state of Georgia, the first of eight high school stops. He was also a teacher there. This was followed by professional and sporting engagements in Alabama with Robertsdale Golden Bears, Spanish Fort Toros and Thompson Warriors in Alabaster before he became head coach for the first time at his old high school in 2016. He was responsible there for five years and was also Athletic Director. Overall, he was extremely versatile and also coached baseball players and track and field athletes at the schools. Before moving to Germany, he was head coach of the Tigers in Thomasville for one year and offensive coordinator for the Benjamin Russel Wildcats in Alexander City (both also in Alabama) for two years.
Getting to know each other
A month ago, Crager inherited the leadership position at the Knights from Sebastian Blase, who resigned for professional reasons after relegation in the GFL2 came down to the last minute. He met him in 2018 when he was in Stuttgart with other high school coaches. The Oldenburg native was working as a coach there at the time (with the Scorpions from 2018 to 2020), and the encounter was the basis for the US coach taking up his first foreign position with the Knights six years later.
The desired solution
As coordinator of the Ritter attack, Crager “got better and better at German football and its special features” in his first season. Blase praised his successor: “He has constantly adapted his offensive system and increasingly tailored it to the players. We have had great success with this, especially in the last few games.” The 43-year-old was “the absolute dream solution” in the team, emphasized Rainer Borkmann from the Knights management.
The potential
“I want to strengthen our team and our organization at all levels,” says Crager, who stands for fast and aggressive football, about his individual and collective goals for the coming GFL2 season: “I really believe that there is a lot of potential here, to become a great football city.” Or to put it another way: Sweet Football Home Oldenburg.
