Mark Giannotto · @mgiannotto
4th Feb 2016 from TwitLonger
My favorite Torrian Gray story
In light of the news #Hokies DB Coach Torrian Gray might be taking a job at Florida, figured I'd share my favorite story about Gray during my five years on the Virginia Tech beat. I was walking out of a movie in Christiansburg when I saw Gray pull up to the curb and park in the fire lane. He got out of his car with a cup in his hand, said hello to me and then walked into the movie theater. I stood there, wondering if he was just going to leave his car there for an entire movie. I knew VT football coaches had sway around Southwest Virginia, but I didn't know it went this far.
But a couple minutes later, out walked Torrian Gray, his cup full of soda. On top of being a fine defensive backs coach, and a pretty good football player back in the day, Gray also likes to use the movie theater for free refills. And why shouldn't he, considering he probably paid $5.25 for that large soda to begin with?
Why I am writing this now? I'm not sure. I really just wanted to share that anecdote, because I found it hilarious. But it gets at the type of guy Gray is. Like when I first called him back in 2009 and asked if he would tell me off the record if his boss, Bud Foster, was interviewing for a head coaching job.
"There's no such thing as off the record with me. It's all on the record," Gray said, and then proceeded to confirm, on the record, that Bud was interviewing for another job. I always respected that about him.