By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

Good thing this wasn't one of those celebrity roasts. Even jokingly, you would have a hard time finding anyone to say something bad or malicious about Jim Grobe.

"Someone called me the other day and asked me if I would consider Coach Grobe for Coach of the Year," said former Baylor coach and AFCA Executive Director Grant Teaff. "I said, 'No, I would recommend him for Saint of the Year, that's much higher than Coach of the Year. I have officially put that in with the Pope, but I don't know what will happen. You deserve it, Jim."

Grobe took over the Baylor football program as interim head coach on May 30 and led the Bears through one of the toughest stretches in program history. Tuesday night, a group of more than 100 Baylor fans and Baylor administrators gathered at the Texas Sports Hall of Fame to show their appreciation for what Jim and his wife, Holly, have done over the last seven months.

"I was looking back at some of the things said in the beginning when he was announced as the coach," said Dr. David Garland, Baylor's interim president. "Someone said this is the most challenging coaching job in America. And he was able to get them focused in challenging situations. But also, I think he gained the respect of everyone in the nation. He already had that respect, but he continued to earn that respect and earned the gratitude for everyone in the Baylor family."

Baylor Vice President and Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades said the Grobes will "forever be a part of Baylor and a part of us."

"Coach has talked about this being a calling from God to be here," Rhoades said. "We're glad that God called you Coach, and you, Holly, to be here with us. . . . It was never, ever about him. Coach Grobe always made it about our players, our student-athletes, our assistants, our staff, never, ever about him. And that's an unbelievable quality of a person."

Following the firing of former coach Art Briles, Teaff reached out to the former Wake Forest and Ohio University head coach to see if he was interested in taking the job on an interim basis to get the Bears through the 2016 season.

"We needed somebody that could come in and be a leader, that would care for our students, the athletes, the student body and, of course, the university itself and the Waco community as well," Teaff said, "because at that time we were all hurting."

Grobe had served on the AFCA board for many years and chaired the ethics committee, which Teaff calls the "guiding light" for the coaching profession.

"We've all been blessed by Jim and Holly being here," Teaff said. "He's done an unbelievable job dealing with all the different issues that had taken place and handled it each and every day in a positive way."

Representing the players, Baylor senior receiver Lynx Hawthorne said, "We can't thank you enough for what you've done. We're so undeserving of a coach like you, but we appreciate you so much."

"I've been reading through a book called The Servant, a book about leadership," Hawthorne said. "And you would think that book was written about him, just the way he was a servant through the entire season, standing tall for us and letting us know that he does care about us."

Jim and Holly were presented with Baylor letterwinner's jackets from Baylor "B" Association president and former Baylor running back Walter Abercrombie.

"Coach Grobe didn't just come here to sit behind a desk and stand on the practice field," said Karly Heffner, who has served as the assistant to the head coach for the last year. "He came here to unite our program and see it through this, because he believed in what we stood for. He believed in each one of our players, and he believed in each one of our coaches.

"We will forever be touched by the kindness and caring that you brought to Waco. While you are about to trade in your cowboy boots for Hawaiian shirts, I hope you get a chance to feel the love we have for you. Baylor is a better place because you were a part of it. You have blessed our community with your presence, and we are wholeheartedly indebted to you forever."

Grobe, who turns 65 in February, has coached for 40 of the last 42 years with stops at Emory & Henry, Marshall, Air Force, Ohio and Wake Forest. But, he says Waco "will always be our second home." "As we go home (to Georgia), I don't know that we've ever been in a community where we felt more welcomed and loved than Waco," he said. "Holly and I will always consider our time here as one of our greatest, greatest blessings."

Whether they were shopping or going out to eat, "we've never been embraced like this community has embraced us."

"We've had students anonymously buy our dinner," he said. "Everywhere we've gone, we've had people come up and hug us and let us know they're praying for us. I've never had more people say 'God bless you' than we've had in this community. And that's from Day 1. A lot of times, they do that when you're 6-0. But, when we went through that stretch where we started losing games, nothing changed. That tells me a lot about Baylor Nation and the people in Waco."

And the same thing can be said about Jim Grobe. When Teaff called him after the loss to TCU and apologized, the Baylor coach said, "Whoah, wait a minute! You know why I came here. I came here for these kids, I came here for this coaching staff, I came here for the student body and Baylor University. And nothing has changed."

Then he said, "I'm blessed to be here."

For Grobe, the biggest blessing was being around a "wonderful group of players."

"I've got 100 more sons now that will have to come see me in Georgia and stay in touch," he said. "That's been the blessing for me is to have a chance to be around these great kids. Nobody can imagine how good they are and what a blessing it's been for me to be with them for the past six months."

That time will end next Tuesday, when the Bears (6-6) face Boise State (10-2) in the Motel 6 Cactus Bowl at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz.

"We'll definitely be back to see the Bears play, that's for sure," Grobe said. "We'll do that every year. We'll be here. We just feel like we have so many friends here. This is like a second home to us."

NOTES: Senior running back Shock Linwood, the Bears' all-time leading with 4,168 career yards rushing, has opted not to play in the bowl game and will prepare for the 2017 NFL Draft. "You want guys that are all-in to go win a football game," Grobe said. "So, I think for Shock this is probably the best thing for him. He feels like his next step is the National Football League, and I'm fine with that. The nice thing for us is we do have some depth at running back. It won't hurt us like it would have if he was the only running back." . . . The team is leaving from Waco Regional Airport at 1 p.m. Thursday, with bowl prep resuming Friday morning.