TRIM CYRUS READY TO RESUME COACHING
Publication: THE
Published: 07/29/1989
Page: P1B
Headline: TRIM CYRUS READY TO RESUME COACHING
Byline: MIKE CHERRY
His necessary but unsolicited clean living is starting to pay
off for Greg Cyrus.
Oh, he still worries about the costs of new clothing to cover
his shrinking waistline and most nights merely waffs
at a nice, red,.
juicy, sizzling sirloin. But his newfound lifestyle is
providing him
with a surge of almost supernatural power.
For the first time in "seven or eight years,' Cyrus hit a home
run for his summer softball team. Short porch in right or not, a
homer is not a bad way to signify that the 40-year-old Cyrus is
contending for that league's comeback player of the year award.
And comeback football coach of the year in the
Conference. It was almost a year ago that Cyrus, during a softball
game, suffered a mild heart attack. That caused him to miss last
school year, which was to be his first as head coach at Nitro High
Equipped with scar tissue on his heart and an almost
disgustingly healthy diet, Cyrus is back with the Wildcats and most
functions of his everyday routine.
"He (Cyrus' doctor) told me to do everything I wanted,' Cyrus
said Thursday night. "I tried to do a little more than normal just
to see if it was all right. You never know unless you test yourself
"You can't worry about having a heart attack the
rest of your
life.'
Cyrus returned to softball, gardening at his
cutting firewood. He discontinued his blood-pressue
medicine in.
April. He passed a stress test in May, but still makes the mandatory
concessions his heart demanded last summer.
No more cigarettes, fat-trimmed red meat once a week ("used to
be five'), pedaling an exercycle
every morning, weigh-ins every day
.Cyrus weighs 220 pounds. Although he is about 60 pounds lighter
than when he had the attack, he will not disclose last summer's
weight. Most elementary school students can solve that riddle with
the clues provided.
Cyrus has never opened the container of precautionary
nitroglycerin tablets he carries. More a Bud Grant than Mike Ditka
in coaching style, Cyrus said he did not anticipate the stress of
coaching to stimulate a relapse. He is more apprehensive about the
summer heat. Practice for
If one was to skip a season, Cyrus picked the best
one, although
he could have improved on the method. The Wildcats, with a roster
full of underclassmen, finished 1-9 for their worst record in more
than 40 years. Cyrus, apparently a master of timing, is returning
for a season in which the Wildcats should be drastically improved.
On his doctor's advice, Cyrus did not attend Nitro's 1988 games
. "Friday nights were real bad,' he said. "I
started going to
(other) games the first of October.' He also attended the games of
his alma mater,
Cyrus' heart will come in December, when he and wife Brenda expect
their third child.
His reason for submitting himself again to his pressure-riddled
profession is not all that philosophical or cosmic in origin.
"I missed it a lot,' he said. A true creature of habit,
Cyrus.
is beginning his 18th season as a high school assistant
or head coach
. He guided Sissonville's resurgent program from 1984-87.
Although he still sneaks an occasional french fry,
Cyrus is
adapting to a new cuisine that includes plenty of stir-fried
vegetables, chicken and fish and is devoid of processed foods.
"I'm kind of a big Chinaman,' Cyrus said. "I can't get used
to the chopsticks, though.'