Greenville football celebrates progress under Coach Steve Channell

GREENVILLE – The Greenville Green Wave football program held its end-of-season awards banquet under the direction of first-year head coach Steve Channell, a successful veteran coach who brought renewed energy and optimism to the program.

The Wave snapped a 0-22 skid to start the season, opening with victories over the Eaton Eagles (24-14) and the West Carrollton Pirates (30-0). In Week 7, Greenville reclaimed the Little Brown Jug for the first time since 2019, defeating the Sidney Yellow Jackets 34-20.

Coach Channell opened the evening by emphasizing the importance of player numbers and the need for improved weight-room facilities to compete with other area schools. He thanked the many parents, players, and community members for their support throughout the year.

“I can’t say thank you enough,” Channell said. “I made a list of positives that came out of this year.”

Among the highlights Channell shared:

• A new stadium – Thank you, Mr. Brown.

• The team rang the Victory Bell three times.

• Energy and enthusiasm are contagious.

• Greenville scored more points this season than in the previous two years combined.

• The Wave won back-to-back games.

• The team was never shut out.“

• Before the first game, our football program provided the parents, players, and the entire Greenville faculty and staff, coaches, and everybody else t-shirts that said ‘We Can Do This.’”

• We’re getting new uniforms next year.

• 

  First time we won the Little Brown Jug since 2019.

• Five players received All-League recognition.

• The number of games with a running clock dropped from 13 in the past two seasons combined to just three this year (against Tippecanoe, Troy, and Xenia, teams with a combined 26-4 record).

• I put up pictures in the locker room of action shots of the players from Friday Night. They walked in, and the kids loved it.

• The Homecoming King was a football player.

• And perhaps most importantly: “You could hear laughter in the locker room again. You could see smiling faces. Players enjoyed being part of this team. Parents told me, ‘Thank you for making football fun again for my son.’”

  

Channell then shifted focus toward the program’s ongoing challenges and needs.

“I made a list of negatives—but they’re not meant to be negatives. They’re meant to make a point,” he said.

“As we prepare for our second season together, my viewpoint as the head coach football coach at Greenville High School with many years of experience, I want to tell you bluntly, WE NEED MORE PLAYERS. If every person in this room, as a parent, could recruit one of your son’s friends in the next six months to try, I didn’t say play – try, just come out, show up, give our coaches, give me, give teammates, just give us a chance.”

“There’s probably 10-12 kids that I told that same message to last spring – just try, no promises, just come out and try, and most of them stuck with it. THE BIGGEST THING IS, WE HAVE TO GET MORE NUMBERS.”

The second key need, Channell said, is a strong district-wide commitment to strength training.

“We need all coaches to make our athletes male and female physically stronger,” he emphasized. “We’re starting a weight program on December 1, with more than 60 scheduled days between December and May. Not every athlete can attend every session because of other sports, but it has to become a priority. We’re the smallest school in the league—we have to get stronger.”

Channell also addressed the need for greater mental and physical toughness.

“Our kids need to become tougher. That doesn’t mean meaner or nastier—it means mentally stronger, physically tougher, and more resilient. These aren’t negatives; these are challenges we can overcome together.”

The coach closed by expressing deep gratitude for Greenville’s support.

“Thank you as a community for opening your arms and for all the kind words about our program this year,” he said. “Our superintendent Julie Jones said it best: ‘Winning is great, but sometimes winning doesn’t reflect on your win/loss record.’ We went 3-7, but we won in so many other ways—through laughter, teamwork, the Little Brown Jug, and the joy of football returning to Greenville.”