Joshua Flannery is the offensive coordinator for the Greenville Panthers Football team. Flannery was born in Germany and spent most of his life in the United States. Flannery’s high school days were spent in Edwardsville, Illinois. Flannery graduated from Edwardsville High School and decided to attend Greenville College to further his education and play football. Greenville College is where Flannery met the woman of his dreams who is now his wife. He and his wife now have a family of their own with two young boys.
Flannery expresses to his players that he wants them to be relentless in everything that they do. In football meetings, he talks a lot about relentless effort, toughness, and execution. When things get tough on his players, he tells them to embrace it and laugh at the face at adversity.
Flannery graduated in 2008 from Greenville College and started coaching right after at a high school in Colorado. One of the biggest influences for Flannery’s decision to start coaching was his experiences with his coaches from college. Flannery mentioned, “I fell in love with coaching with my college experience because of the coaches who coached me. They really poured into me outside of just the X’s and O’s, and they cared for my relationship with the Lord and my academics.” As a coach, Flannery really enjoys the relationships he has with the players and coaches. He says that being there for one another brings an “iron sharpens iron” mentality. Seeing the guys in the football program working very hard for what they have, leave the school with a degree, and start their own family is something that Flannery enjoys the most out of coaching. Becoming successful at what they desire to do is the definition of building champions for Christ, as Flannery would say.
For Flannery, one of the biggest challenges as a coach is being away from his family while he is doing things that are football-related. Football can take up a lot of time because of the things that go on behind the scene of being a coach such as watching film, recruiting players, and preparing for game days. When the going gets tough, Flannery’s go to verse from the bible is Proverbs 3:5-6. “It’s just a good reminder for me that there’s going to be moments in life that I don’t understand why we’re going through those moments, and that is okay because the Lord has a plan, and for me to lean on him for strength. That has always been a good reminder for me.” Flannery is a man of God and believes he is in this world to be an impact on lives through the strength of God.
Rafael Castro, one of Flannery’s players on his offense said, “Coach Flannery is a caring guy and one thing I respect about him the most is that he doesn’t only care about us as players, but as people outside of football. As emotional as I am, that really means a lot. Through all of my four years here at Greenville University, through all of the ups and downs, Coach Flannery has been there with me every step of the way. I love that man!”
Media by Mike Buckhanna.
