'Coach Gills' helps student athletes make the grade

By Paul May
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

During a football game on Saturday afternoon, there is a woman who is seen pacing the sidelines of Sabine Field; some see her yelling at the team to help them out, and the players listen to her as if she were one of the football coaches. Her name is Coach Paula Gills.

Gills is the director of the Learning Support Center here a Norwich University. She has been here for 24 years.

Why do "big football players call me 'coach'?" That is an answer that she does not mind giving at any time. "When Coach Hackett was the head coach of the football team, back in the 1990s, he had come up with an idea that would allow two people, staff and/or faculty member, to stand on the sideline of the game."

This was her first time on the sideline of a football game. She has always been a "big" fan of the sport. Now was her chance to be coach for a day.

"We could do everything with the team, --go to breakfast, go into the locker room and wish the players good luck," said Gills " we were coaches."

"I found that this was a great time. Prof. Cantone and I were together as coach one Saturday, and the team won. I mean, we really got into it."

The two of them were jumping up and down on the sideline when this happened. "At the end of the game, Coach Hackett came up to me and said, 'Gills I think you are a good luck charm, maybe you should do this again sometime.'"

After that day, she was always to be found on the sidelines at Norwich football games, getting into the game, cheering, yelling, and having a good time.

Coach Hackett has left the team, and now head coach Mike Yesalonia has asked Gills to be part of the team as a coach for academics.

"I knew Coach Yes when he was a player here back in the '80s and even when he was a student coach," said Gills "he had come up to me and told me that 'I really want to think of you as a coach; will you be part of the program as a coach?'"

Gills did not know what to say; she was so honored by this that all she could do was to say that she would be honored.

"I told him fine, fine lets do this; I am with you; I think that it will work," and on that day Paula changed her title from Professor Gills to Coach Gills for the football team.

"Coach Gills has been a big part of my life," said Tom Kennedy, 20, a Communications major. "She as helped me out so much."

"My goal was to do just that, helping out the students. I really think if myself as a coach, because I am not teaching students on how to do school work, I'm coaching students on how to do better." said Gills.

Some of the other teams now are starting to call her "Coach," because "they have seen football players calling me that." She thinks that being called coach is a positive.

"I hand kids a playbook when they come in to see me. I tell them that there are many different plays you can run for success in school." said Gills, "This is a coaching relationship."

Gills has seen a chance in the school, because "the academic community is picking this up, the coaching style;" this will help out students who have learning disabilities.

"Professors are seeing that the best type of relationship with a student who has ADD or a learning disability is a coaching type of relationship," added Gills, "I have been an academic coach for many years now, and I have been growing as that coach and am working better to push them in doing some things that they don't want to do."

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