In 2012, Austin Grammer was a member of American Christian Academy's first boys basketball team to make it to the Sweet 16.

Now, 12 years later, Grammer is leading the Patriots as they make their fourth trip to the Sweet 16.

Aside from basketball, Grammer serves as ACA's football offensive coordinator and is on the baseball coaching staff. But coming into this season, he was not slated to be at the helm of the basketball program. In fact, basketball season was typically what Grammer called his "family break," in between football and baseball seasons.

That changed over Thanksgiving 2023, when Grammer was at Orange Beach with his family — wife Ashley and son Hollis, 3-years-old. There, Grammer received a call asking if he would be able to be the interim head coach of the basketball team, taking over for head coach Blake Thrasher, who was diagnosed with cancer.

Grammer said yes, and not long after, he was on his way back to Tuscaloosa to watch the Patriots in the Central High School Thanksgiving Tournament.

Originally, junior varsity coach Andrew Thrasher was coaching the Patriots following his father's diagnosis. Thrasher, along with varsity assistant coach Austin Walker, coached ACA throughout the Thanksgiving tournament. Five games into the season, though, Grammer took over and officially became interim head coach.

"I came back in town and got to watch the last game of that tournament, then I started with them," Grammer said. "It was probably two days later was the first practice, and then we were rolling."

Despite Grammer coming in unexpectedly, coaching basketball was not entirely new to him. He would scrimmage with team from time-to-time and help at practice if he was available. Plus, Grammer was familiar with some of the Patriots' players, especially senior Davis Dare, who said he has known Grammer pretty much his whole life, watching him play alongside his older siblings at ACA.

"(When we found out) Grammer was going to be our coach for the season," Dare said. "We knew Grammer was a great player and great athlete. He was a three-time all-state player in all three sports he played. So, we knew he knew what he was doing, and we have been following his footsteps ever since."

Grammer attended ACA from 2004-2012, playing football, basketball and baseball. After graduating from ACA in 2012, he went on to play football and baseball at Middle Tennessee State University. After spending four years at MTSU, Grammer returned to Alabama to use his fifth year of football eligibility at West Alabama and pursue his master's degree.

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After graduating with his master's degree in counseling and psychology from West Alabama, Grammer got into the world of college coaching, something he said had always been a dream of his. He began coaching at Southern Mississippi, where he was the quarterbacks coach. That changed when Grammer's wife, Ashley, got pregnant with the couple's son, Hollis. Realizing coaching would not allow him enough time with his family, Grammer and his wife decided to make the move back to Tuscaloosa.

In Tuscaloosa, Grammer dabbled in other professions, from sales to real estate, but knew coaching was always something he wanted to get back into. Then in the spring of 2021, Grammer received a call from ACA headmaster Dr. Dan Carden asking if he wanted to return to his alma mater to teach. Grammer accepted, and four days later, he began teaching for the first time.

"I had wanted to get into coaching, and I knew teaching might be the best avenue to do that," Grammer said. "... So I was like sure, and (Dr. Carden) was like 'you start on Monday.' He hung up on me, and I think that was the Thursday over spring break, so in four days I was about to start teaching for the first time.

"I taught that last nine weeks and we were doing spring football. I kind of fell in love with just being around the kids all the time."

Now, Grammer is coaching the team he once played for. Being back at ACA, Grammer said, is a feeling that is hard to describe.

"I think it means more to me playing here because I played here," he said. "Like this gym hasn't changed other than the wall color. It's a special place to me and seeing them be able to do it and have success is special to me. I get to see how hard they work, I get to see them fail, I get to see them cry, I get to see them fight. To think back 12, 13 years ago being in their shoes, it is awesome to me, it's incredible."

The Patriots are set to take on Bibb County in the Class 4A Sweet 16 on Monday in Birmingham at Bill Harris Arena. They will be the fourth Patriots squad to make a trip to the Sweet Sixteen, with Grammer leading them with experience of his own from 2012.

"Grammer is one of my role models in my life," Dare said. "I try to follow what he does and whatever he tells me I try to replicate to the best of my ability. Just knowing that (he's been in the Sweet 16), I know he's going to lead us down the right path."

Anna Snyder covers high school sports and University of Alabama softball and football recruiting for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com. Follow her on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @annaesnyder2

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: AHSAA basketball: Austin Grammer's journey from playing to coaching at ACA