‘No one wants to follow an icon.’ Spencer succeeds Pearce as Modesto Christian AD.

Robb Spencer has been named the athletic director at Modesto Christian High, where he’ll succeed Greg Pearce, an iconic force at one of the Sac-Joaquin Section’s most successful schools.

Spencer will remain the girls basketball coach, as well as the principal for Modesto Christian’s elementary school, pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

“Greg’s an icon,” said Spencer, who was hired as the girls basketball coach by Pearce in 2001. “Talk to anybody around the valley the last 20 years, people are calling him for advice. You think about all the greats in any profession … I was able to work alongside and beneath one of the greats.

“I’m still in shock that he’s not here and I’m in this position. Those are big shoes to fill. I always thought Greg would be here forever, so I never thought about being the high school AD.”

Pearce resigned after nearly 20 years on the Sisk Road campus, home to the most decorated boys basketball program in section history. The boys basketball team has won 18 section championships, nine more than Ripon Christian and Jesuit, two CIF State Division V titles, and reached the 2001 Division I state championship with future NBA player Chuck Hayes.

In 2009, Modesto Christian became the first Stanislaus District school to win a CIF State football title.

The Crusaders have also won a state title in girls basketball in 2014.

Football coach Mike Parsons led the Crusaders to the CIF State Small-School championship in 2009 and then left for a coaching position at Clovis West. He returned in 2014, largely because of Pearce and Spencer.

“Robb is a great man and he’ll do a great job,” Parsons said, “but Greg Pearce is Modesto Christian. He’s everything we want to be and everything we’ve been. It’s going to be tough moving forward.”

Pearce’s last day was Friday, Sept. 22. He has accepted a position in Sonora, where he and wife Carol live. Several coaches and school officials gathered at Parsons’ home last weekend to celebrate Pearce’s career at Modesto Christian and wish him well.

“A lot of tears,” Parsons said. “A lot of tears.”

Pearce wasn’t available for comment. No matter, he’s left a lasting legacy with his coaches.

“He’s done nothing but do it the right way,” Parsons said. “I can tell you this, I’m 46 years old and there are three men in my life that have made a big difference. Greg is one of them.”

Pearce’s impact extends beyond the championship banners and trophies.

He was proficient in the Sac-Joaquin Section’s rulebook, a de facto facilities manager and event planner, as well as counsel for the school’s coaches. He even played the role of janitor after big games.

In the moments after the Crusaders’ heartbreaking loss to Mater Dei in the 2001 D-I state final, Sac-Joaquin Section Assistant Commissioner Will DeBoard, then a reporter at The Bee, watched Pearce comfort players and coaches and then inexplicably start cleaning up the bench area.

That was the kind of administrator Pearce was, DeBoard said.

All in.

All the time.

“Maybe that’s hokey anecdote, but I’ll remember him as the guy behind the scenes taking care of everything to make sure those teams had every chance to win,” said DeBoard, who worked at The Bee from 1992-2009. “I’ve never been to an MC game that Greg wasn’t there. It will be weird going to the next game and potentially not seeing him. It truly is the end of an era for MC.”

And the start of a new one.

Pearce welcomed Spencer into the Modesto Christian family 16 years ago, giving him his first head coaching position. With two high-profile prospects in the program, Courtney and Ashley Paris, Pearce picked Spencer, a journeyman assistant coach with stops at Riverbank, Beyer and Modesto Junior College, over more qualified coaches from outside the region.

Since then, Spencer has won seven section titles. He’s never thought about leaving MC because of his boss. Pearce, he says, made work feel like “home.”

“No one wants to follow an icon,” Spencer said, “but I happen to be the one. I’m taking it full bore and I know he’s always a phone call away. That’s reassuring.”

This story was originally published September 29, 2017 at 10:54 AM with the headline "‘No one wants to follow an icon.’ Spencer succeeds Pearce as Modesto Christian AD.."