Coaching, law enforcement bring Maddox closer to Montague’s youth, community

That means it’s time to recognize a local head coach who puts his life on the line every day when he heads off to work.

 

Kris Maddox, the varsity wrestling coach at Montague High School, is involved in law enforcement from several different angles.

 

Maddox, a 2000 graduate of Manistee High School, participated in football, wrestling and track during his high school days.

Maddox attended Olivet College for 1 year and obtained his college letter in wrestling and was Academic All-MIAA. He returned home and attended West Shore Community College and graduated in 2002 with an Associates of Applied Arts Degree and Certificate Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards. While attending WSCC, Maddox was a Manistee football and wrestling assistant coach.

Over the course of his law enforcement career, Maddox has made a few stops along the way. Currently, he is a Shift Commander/Lieutenant with the Michigan Department of Corrections at Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee and a part-time police officer with Montague City Police Department.

He began working for the Manistee County Sheriff’s Office as a Marine Patrol Deputy in the summers while I finished college. He moved on to work for Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Department for about 6 months after graduation. Then came 11 years working for the Hart Police Department part-time (2003-2014). 

 

In 2004, he was hired by the Michigan Youth Correctional Facility and worked there until it closed in 2005 as a sergeant. In 2005, he was hired by the Michigan Department of Corrections and has worked at all three prisons in Muskegon. In 2014, he was hired by the Montague City Police Department as a part-time police officer. He has worked in a variety of capacities over the weeks, including a stint as a K9 Officer for the Hart Police Department.

For the past 15 seasons, Maddox has been coaching youth football and wrestling at Montague Public Schools and was hired as the head wrestling coach back in 2014.

“In 2009, current athletic director Jay Mulder was working as the middle school head football coach,” said Maddox. “I met Jay while being a wrestling official. He knew that I had gone to Manistee High School and our offense was the Wing-T. He called and asked if I would be interested in coaching middle school football. Coincidently, I was volunteering at Holton and Jay offered me a paid position.”

 

Since then, he has worked nearly every season as a middle school football coach. He said he could never fully leave the program and always found a way to return.

 

“In 2011-2012, I spent a year as a middle school wrestling coach,” Maddox said. “However, with two newly born sons (Gavyn 2009 and Chayse 2011) I stepped away for a year and opened Muskegon CrossFit in January of 2013 with business partner Russ Mock.”

 

Then came 2014 and he was contacted by Chad Coppess, Jay Mulder and Ken Diamond about the opening as the varsity wrestling coach. He accepted the position. With that role being time consuming, Maddox sold his part of CrossFit Gym and started coaching.

During his law enforcement career and his coaching career at Montague, Maddox definitely believes in a higher power that puts him in situations where he can be a big benefit to the youth in the Montague community.

“Its taking me a long time to really grasp and understand sports and the impact we need to look to have on our youth,” said Maddox. “My football coach in 1998-1999 also worked at the prison in Manistee. In fact, most of my football coaches did at the time.”

 

Maddox recalls a practice in which he became disrespectful to his coach.

 

“My football coach grabbed me by the facemask looking me in the eyes and said, ‘I don’t give a rat’s ass how bad you have it going at home, you have the ability to do and be great, you need to step out of whatever mood your in and focus on what you can control,'” Maddox said. “I didn’t know it then but that was a make it or break it moment for me in my life. I honestly feel he righted my ship and looking back it was my savior. I was a senior in high school and I was currently living by myself and without so many of my coaches and mentors in school I don’t think I would be where I am today.”

 

And it’s those lessons learned along the path of life that guides Maddox. And, at times, he has to play even more of a role than just “coach.”

 

“I hold these kids accountable and know that I often fall into the role of a parent figure to these kids,” Maddox said. “I believe that’s how many of my coaches were to me. My mission is to help the kids realize their potential, not only as an athlete, but more as a person and productive citizen in our community. Sometimes holding them accountable means that I lose some kids, but most of them realize in the end that it was worth it.”

 

And if the athlete embraces that approach, it can lead to long-lasting relations.

 

“As a coach it’s really about how we can connect with the kids and create lasting relationships.,” he said. “Sometimes as a coach I wish I had more time with the kids outside of coaching and to learn more about them. That’s what I love about wrestling and the amount of time we get to spend together. After four years I have spent more time with these kids than a lot of their parents get to during high school.”

 

It’s become evident that Maddox is “all in” when it comes to his roles in law enforcement, coaching and mentoring.

“It really is hard to describe how much I care about our community and kids,” Maddox said. “If coaching was a career I would just do that. However, being a police officer often allows me other opportunities to connect with the kids while working. Believe it or not, I really don’t cross paths with too many of them in a bad or criminal way too often. However, when I do I’m able to use my relationship in a positive way and we get through the mistakes together.”

 

“I really want the kids to know we are always here for them,” Maddox said. “We used to have kids randomly stop over during lunch because they were hungry. I can’t tell you how many times I’ll be at work and my wife will call and say someone is at the house and they end up staying to talk to her for hours. Or getting up from working all night or coming home from work and there will be an athlete in the house talking to my wife. I love that our door is always open, no matter the reason.”