UGA Football: Frierson Chats With David Greene

By John Frierson
Staff Writer

David Greene ended his great Georgia football career back in 2004, having won more games (42) than any quarterback in NCAA history and thrown for more yards (11,528) than anyone in SEC history. Both of those marks have since been passed — Georgia’s Aaron Murray now holds the SEC passing mark with 13,166 yards, with Greene third all-time — but Greene’s place in Bulldog and SEC history is secure. Few have done it better.

Now a married father of four in the commercial insurance business in the Atlanta area, Greene, who helped lead Georgia to the 2002 SEC championship and was the SEC Offensive Player of the Year that season, still follows the Bulldogs closely. He is also now coaching his sons, passing along what he knows to another generation.

During a Quick Chat this week, Greene talked about his playing days, coaching, his old friend and teammate David Pollack, being out of the spotlight and much more.

Here’s some of what he had to say:

Frierson: What have the past five months or so been like for you?

Greene: It’s certainly been an interesting 2020, for sure. Nobody ever experienced anything like this from the COVID-19 standpoint, and I think probably everyone kind of underestimated it because we didn’t know what it was capable of. It’s certainly been a challenge — it’s new times, it’s a new way of doing life in general. It’s been really sad to see the way it’s affected so many people and it’s gut-wrenching when you realize this has done more destruction than some of the major wars that we’ve been involved in.

For the kids, it’s been a tough year for them, as well. So many of them, depending on their age, it’s such an important time from a developmental standpoint, developing relationships and learning socially, as well. It’s tough for them to be locked up. I remember what it was like when I was a young kid, 8, 9, 10, or even 12 or 13, days seemed like weeks because you don’t have the responsibilities of your parents.

I felt bad for the kids but I certainly understand the importance of keeping your distance and not exposing yourself (to the virus) or potentially exposing yourself. At the same time, I’m trying to stay extremely positive and encouraged about what the future holds. We’re also really having a lot of fun as a family and trying to get creative on doing different things. Typically we’re all so busy with our own little adventures and sports and work, and now we’re getting out and doing things that we’re not used to.

We’re just trying to adapt to the new normal, and it’s certainly been a different year, but we’re trying to make the best of it.

Frierson: As far as getting creative with the kids, have you found yourself doing anything that you wouldn’t have imagined yourself doing?

Greene: No, not necessarily. One thing we have done a fair amount of is we’ve gone to the lake more. We love being outdoors to begin with and my parents have a place at Lake Oconee and the live up there. It’s usually hard to get there because my wife and I have four kids and two of them are old enough where they’re playing sports, and typically weekends are always taken up with sporting events.

The one thing that was nice in the springtime, with games getting cancelled, we had a lot more time to go to the lake and just enjoy our weekends a lot more. It’s been fun from that aspect, being able to slow down a little bit, but I think a lot of us are ready to get back to that feeling of normalcy.

Our kids go to a private school that is back in school, live, and we get up and we take our kids to school. My two oldest boys are playing football, so I’m out coaching them at night. We’re getting back into the swing of things.

Frierson: Are you actually coaching the team or are you just working with them in the backyard?

Greene: I’m head-coaching my oldest son’s team, at Hebron Christian Academy — it’s a fifth- and sixth-grade team, and then I just kind of help out when I’m not head-coaching with my 9-year-old son’s team over at Grayson in Gwinnett (County). That’s a lot of fun.

Frierson: Given your great career and all of your football knowledge, is it nice to be passing that along?

Greene: I’ll tell you this, I enjoy being out there with the kids. There are so many great life lessons that sports brings out in kids, and it’s hard to duplicate it at their age in any other deal. As far as accountability, being able to push yourself when you really don’t feel like going anymore — it’s too hot and I don’t feel like going to practice today, that’s not accountability.

You do learn how to work together with different personalities and try to find a common goal, that’s very applicable as you get into your adult years. You learn how to deal with pressure, being dependable, someone that your guys can count on — it’s very hard to put your kids on those situations at a 9-, 10-, 11-year-old age unless it’s done through sports, and specifically football because it’s the ultimate team game.

I love that aspect of the game, and that’s been really fun to feel that. At this age, it’s certainly the very beginning of football and I find myself trying to get too far ahead [laughs], I think. I try to do too much and the kids look at me with a glazed look in their eyes, like, what are you talking about? And then I have to really try to dial it back. I do struggle a little bit with that because there’s so much I want to do and I can’t do it yet [laughs], but hopefully that will come at an older age.

Frierson: In talking to so many former student-athletes over the years, it seems like it’s the memories of things that happen off the field that ultimately stick around and stand out more than the things that happen on game days. Is that true for you as well?

Greene: I’m telling you, it is absolutely the case. You’ve got to think about it, there’s 365 days in a year and we’re probably only taking, collectively, a month where we’re not working or doing something together. You’re only playing 12 or 13 games, total, and so the majority of all your memories in your time is not in a game, it’s working out together, training together, practicing together, and so there’s absolutely no doubt that the majority of the memories are not game-related.

Certainly the relationships that are being built while you’re there, and the fun that you have, the genuine fun that you have together, that’s the hardest thing when you leave the game. The hardest thing for me, because I was used to being in the locker room — it was certainly a brotherhood — and we had a lot of fun together. And you really can’t replicate that; once you’re done playing, it’s very hard to find that same bond in a different setting. It’s just difficult to do.

Frierson: As one of the faces of the program for four years and someone that was always in the spotlight as the starting quarterback, what is like to go from constantly having a camera and a microphone in your face to just kind of being a regular citizen most of the time?

Greene: It’s funny, everybody’s a little bit different. I’m one that understood that it came with the position I was in, but I was certainly not missing it when I went into kind of the regular world [laughs], having a job and raising a family. I kind of prefer to stay low-key, that’s kind of more of my nature, but I also understood that when I played that position I had to accept the role that I was in. It wasn’t as natural for me as maybe it was for other people; I’m typically not one that wants to stand up in front of the room and address a big crowd, I’d rather just go play the game.

Frierson: How surprised are you that Pollack has developed into the TV star on ESPN that he’s become?

Greene: I never really thought about it before he went into it. The one thing that Pollack has that has always made him so good at what he does is his passion. The things that he loves, he’s extremely passionate about, and he is an all-in type guy. If he is all about it, then he is all about it.

He was a three-time All-American at Georgia and a fantastic football player to begin with, but then he’s also a guy that speaks exactly what he thinks, which I think people appreciate. Now, I know sometimes the Georgia fans don’t appreciate it if he doesn’t think Georgia’s going to win, but at the same time he does tell you exactly what’s on his mind. I don’t think people can ever accuse him of being a homer when it comes to that.

He also loves the game of football and that translates to TV, as well. You can tell he enjoys what he’s doing and he loves the game of football. I think he’d be watching film regardless of if he was getting paid to watch film and analyze the game, just because he loves it. He loves Saturdays in the fall and it looks like he’s ready to suit up sometimes when he’s on “Gameday.” If you’re going to be on TV, you need to have passion and you need to have excitement and enjoy the game and show that energy, and that’s what he does.

(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)

Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men’s Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He’s also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.