coach Spanish Fort Gretchen Boykin directs her team against Bayside Academy during the AHSAA Class 6A volleyball state championship at Bill Harris Arena in Birmingham, Ala., Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. A registered dietician at a Mobile hospital, Boykin had also coached volleyball for numerous club teams and four years at Spring Hill College. When her alma mater, McGill-Toolen Catholic called to offer a job, Boykin decided that volleyball was her love.
Boykin has a 1,001-180 career record, an 84.8 winning percentage, and led two different high schools to three total state championships along with numerous title games and final four appearances. She led McGill-Toolen to the Class 6A state championship in 2005 — only six classes with Class 7A beginning in 2014 — along with semifinal appearances in 2006, 2009 and 2012.
The McGill-Toolen call in 2005 sealed her fate. Boykin spent nine seasons with the Dirty Dozen, posting a 500-97 record along with the 2005 title before taking over at Spanish Fort in 2014. She played high school volleyball under AHSAA Hall of Fame coach McGill-Toolen Becky Dickinson and was selected all-state as a senior setter in 1991. She helped the Dirty Dozen to the Class 6A title in 1990.