BLUEFIELD, Va. — The next piece to the puzzle that is football at Bluefield College was put into place on Friday when Mike Gravier was introduced as the head coach for the program that is set to start varsity play in 2012 after being dormant since 1941.

Gravier is a Princeton resident who spent last season as the tight ends and fullbacks coach at Concord University after being away from coaching for eight years. He has lived in Princeton since 2004, when he became the director of OperationSHARE for Heaven Sent Ministries.

He knew that Four Seasons Country has a big appetite for football. Playing a bigger role in that culture appealed to him.

“Living here made it easier for us not to have to move,” Gravier told the Daily Telegraph following the announcement. “But as I looked at it, knowing what high school football is in this area, being at Concord and seeing it and meeting a lot of coaches in this area, understanding that football is an important thing to a lot of people here.

“You want to be able to recruit players that are willing to put in the time, put in the work to be successful as a college football player and ultimately the core of your team needs to be a regional core to build the fan base and get people who want to be involved.

Gravier was selected from a list of 50 applicants due to his faith, his background and his plan to build football at Bluefield College.

“He’s a person of faith and that is quite evident in conversation with him,” said Bluefield College president Dr. David Olive. “It’s not something contrived. It comes across genuinely as to who he is, the type of person he is, his character.

“But also he had a very clear and compelling coaching philosophy that as we as the search committee listened to him articulate that philosophy it was very much in line with who we were as an institution, very much congruent with our mission, the type of student athletes we would want to have here on our campus to be able to further shape and transform their lives into the young men that we would all hope they would become ....”

“He brings a lot of different things that we’re looking for,” said Bluefield College athletic director Pete Dryer. “He’s done a start-up program and he’s done it successfully. He fits into the mission of the College. It’s a Christian institution and we emphasize that and he does the same. And just his ability to do his job with character, with integrity, that’s what Bluefield is all about.”

Gravier’s task of building that regional core begins immediately and it begins in Four Seasons Country.

“I’ll have my Bluefield shirt on and I’ll be meeting coaches prior and hopefully getting a chance to talk to some teams whether it’s pregame or during the week just visiting with them,” Gravier said. “I do want my face to be out there because I’m not a local person. I’ve lived here for five years. I think it’s important that they get to know me better and know what our program is going to be all about.”

Gravier will not limit his recruiting to Four Seasons Country. He also talked about recruiting in the eastern part of Virginia during his press conference. It is an area that produces a wealth of top-quality talent and the successor to Lony Lotito wants to mine for gold there.

“I plan on getting out and meeting as many coaches in Virginia as I can through the fall,” Gravier said, “watching practices, watching games, talking to them about what our vision is for this program and what we have to offer their young men, talk to their players.

“We just have to do it at a larger scale than most colleges do. Instead of recruiting 30 or 40 players, we’re looking at 60 to 100 players. So it’s just doing it at a higher level. It’s kind-of like recruiting on steroids.”

Gravier is familiar with the challenges a first-year program can bring. In 1992, he joined Malone University for their first season of football as their offensive coordinator. In 1994, he moved up to become their head coach, a position he held until 1998.

The circumstances at Malone University also played a role in Gravier’s decision to head another start-up program.

“Seeing what excitement it was for us to score that first touchdown, to win that first game and just the enthusiasm we had for it and what it did for the community, just to be able to do that again was really intriguing to me,” Gravier said.

“Some guys like to take over down programs. I guess I’m one of those guys that likes to start something new because of the fact that everything you do is from years on down the road going to be brand new.”

Gravier wants to play an up-tempo style, saying he wanted to get the ball snapped as soon as it was marked ready for play. To accomplish that objective, he will recruit specific skills — especially speed.

“Like everybody in the country I’m going to be looking at speed,” Gravier said. “You have to find that combination. Obviously you have to have the guys to block for your fast players. But if you can get guys that can run you can put weight on them. You can build them up and develop them.

“I know a lot of programs will take high school linebackers and make them defensive linemen because they can already run. They can put the weight on them and then you’ve got fast, big linemen. We want to go with that philosophy, too. We want to get as many fast kids as we can, but I’m understanding that we need the big guys up front, too.”

When asked about a projected timeline for the program to be successful, Gravier did not mince words. He wants to start winning as soon as the program kicks off officially 769 days from now.

“One, I’ve got those kids for a whole year prior to starting our season, so they get a chance to be in our weight room for a year. They get a chance to be in our system for a year and really just focus on that,” Gravier said.

“And then when we have a scrimmage or JV game we can really pick it apart and get a lot of kids some playing time so we can have that full year to see who’s going to be our players.”

Anticipation is high.

“The expectations are great,” Olive said. “But he knows that and understands it and wouldn’t want it any other way.”

The players will be expected to produce big results on the field.

“We’re going to demand a lot from our players,” Gravier said. “We’re going to have it out in the forefront that if you want to be a part of this here’s what you’ve got to commit to. Those are the kind of kids that in the end are going to be out there for you.”

They will also be expected to conduct themselves with honor off the field.

“Through the character development that we’re going to have and just what we’re going to demand of our players, I expect them to be one, very tough football players, and second, gentlemen off the field,” Gravier said. “Not wearing their hats in class, not using foul language, those types of things, I would demand those if I was coaching anywhere. It doesn’t matter that I’m at a Christian college. Those are things that are important to me.”

The new coach wants to bring in assistants quickly.

“The college has set up June 6 as a date for us to bring in our staff,” Gravier said. “I’ll have two assistant coaches. If I can raise the money, then I would like to bring someone in in January.”

Gravier does not see himself as the new face of Bluefield College, even though many others will see him that way.

“I think in some respects I will be, in certain circles within the football community and in athletics ...,” Gravier said. “People throughout the country, good or bad in our society, really look at sports. More people know the head coach of Notre Dame or Virginia Tech than they do the president or who the head of the math or science department is.

“I think it’s the same way in those circles. So in some regards I will be. But to some people, they’ll have no idea who I am and could care less.”

Gravier cares about Four Seasons Country. After living here for an extended period of time he wants to maintain and strengthen his roots here.

“We love this area,” Gravier said. “We’ve lived here for five or six years. It’s 3 1/2 hours from where my oldest daughter goes to college. I’m getting too old to move. I’ve got to settle down for a while.”

— Contact Jed Lockett

at jlockett@bdtonline.com