Following a Jan. meeting in the auditorium, Clover Hill announced that Gerald Glasco will take over for Bryan Jennings as the new head football coach after five seasons. Since then, Glasco has taken over the football program and held offseason conditioning practices with players.

Glasco comes to Clover Hill after having left his head coaching role at Henrico High School, one that he held for 10 years. Before the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic upset the sports world, Glasco possessed a career record of 50-30 as a head coach. Having led the Henrico Warriors to six region 5A playoff appearances, Glasco hopes to bring the same leadership and will to win to the Green and Gold.

“I expect them to be great,” Glasco said. “I believe that young men will step up and rise to my expectations. Me and my staff have a high standard for Clover Hill.”

The aforementioned COVID-19 pandemic posed a challenge for Glasco as a coach. He attributes much of the downfall of Henrico High School to the lack of players who tried out following COVID.

“Henrico always had limited numbers [of players],” Glasco said. “COVID only made that worse. I’m very appreciative of my time, but it was not necessarily a school where athletics was held to the top tier, especially after COVID.”

Before taking the head coaching job at Henrico High School in 2013, Glasco worked as the defensive coordinator at Highland Springs. What he learned at Highland Springs gave him the necessary tools to create a winning culture at Henrico, something that he hopes to continue at The Hill.

“I have had some outstanding players over the years that I get credit for,” Glasco said. “It is hopefully going to be the same thing here at Clover Hill, I just have to show them the right direction to go.”

In making his decision to come to The Hill, Glasco mentioned much of the administration who he had, at one point or another, coached against at Henrico and Highland Springs.

“Coach  [John] Phillips was the person who I feel like is the support I’m looking for at the top based off of him as a coach,” Glasco said. “Also Coach Johnson, the assistant principal here, supported me to the top and made me feel right [here].” 

While Glasco will look to make an impact on the field, he believes that off field performance is also very important for the success of the team. To Glasco, academics are the most important aspect of high school football. 

“Going to the classroom is a big piece of what we have here,” Glasco said. “We feel as if you’re strong and you’re intelligent, then the football will take care of itself.”

After consecutive losing seasons in 2020, 2021 and 2022 for the Cavs, Glasco will look to reinstill confidence in some of the older players, as well as give younger players more of a will to win.

“The only thing better than two is one, and I explained that to them (the team),” Glasco said. “I played at Oscar Smith High School [and] we didn’t win [the championship] every year, but we played for it every year, and I want Clover Hill to have that same mindset.”

Coaching alongside Glasco are many outside hires; coaches that he has either coached with, or against, at Henrico. He believes that these hires will lead to a new team makeup, and he wants that to be a way to push his players above and beyond.

“Just like any program or any team, they’re all new to me because we are all here on a new team at Clover Hill,” Glasco said. “I don’t really look for X’s and O’s, what they know about football. I do it for experience, such as a player, and they know what it looks like as a coach.”

Glasco takes over for Jennings after five seasons and a 17-29 record. Looking to turn the Clover Hill football program around as quickly as in his year one, Glasco will begin his first season at the helm of the Green and Gold in Aug.