Rare, Outstanding, Compelled, and Knowledgeable.

The four traits are what the ROCK Mentoring Program was founded upon.

Fort Stockton High School multi-sport coach Hunter Grice has embodied those traits during his three years coaching Panther athletics.

Grice will now get a unique opportunity to grow as a coach in a multitude of ways.

The seventh grade Texas History teacher was nominated for the Rock Mentoring Program by a colleague and his selection for the ROCK Mentoring Program was officially announced last week.

The program will be initiated in two phases. Phase one will be the mentorship symposium, which takes place in Arlington on March 20-21. Phase two will take place online where mentors and ROCK mentees will be provided with materials such as articles, videos, podcasts, scenarios, and other readings that will provoke thought and discussion.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity,” Grice said. “It’ll be a good opportunity to help me grow in the profession and kind of learn some things from some other coaches, people that are higher up in the association. Be able to expand as far as my network goes.”

Fort Stockton Athletic Director and head football coach Mike Peters said that Grice has been an extremely valuable asset for the Panthers athletic programs and has a bright future ahead of him in coaching.

“He’s a really good evaluator of talent. He can see things in guys that other people can’t, including myself,” Peters said. “He’s very knowledgeable. He passes information along to players, he coaches well. They pick up what he’s saying and he’s even-keel with his temper.”

The Saginaw, Texas native began his journey to becoming a coach when he was a freshman in college at the University of Oklahoma. Grice was planning to become an engineer initially before changing his path to becoming a coach and teacher.

Grice’s passion for sports – particularly in football – led to the change. Grice played football, earning firstteam all-district honors as a cornerback at Class 5A Saginaw High School while playing for his stepfather – coach Peters – as a junior and senior from 2013-2014. Grice also played baseball and ran track in high school.

The lifelong Texan admitted that Peters played a role with him becoming a coach and he’s thankful he made that decision.

“I guess I went into college not necessarily knowing exactly what I wanted to do. Then somewhere in my freshman year, maybe in the spring semester, that’s when I made the decision to go the education route and teach/coach. I knew I wanted to do something sports related and I was familiar with the field because of my stepdad being around coaching my entire life,” he said.

Moving forward Grice hopes to become a head football coach and athletic director down the road.

Peters said without hesitation he knows he be a successful one and the R.O.C.K. program gives Grice an opportunity to be put on the fast track to do just that.

“I think he has a chance to be a good head coach. I think this program will help catapult him ahead. It took me a lot of years doing that. I think with this he’ll have some connections and some stuff on the mentor side that’ll get him there faster,” Peters said.

Grice is one of 56 coaches selected in the entire state to be a part of the program. Coaches with 1-5 years of experience can qualify.