Gretchen Boykin has won at every level and every school she’s been to and now she’s just the seventh active Alabama high school volleyball coach with a four-digit win total.

The milestone was reached on Thursday, Sept. 14, as the Spanish Fort head coach joined the comma club in her 19th season as a high school head coach with a tri-match sweep of MGM and St. Luke’s to record her 1,000th career victory.

In each of the previous 18 seasons, all of Boykin’s teams have won their area championship. Four went on to hoist a Blue Map trophy as state champions and eight more earned spots in the final four.

Last fall saw the Toros’ fourth trip to the Class 6A state championship match in Boykin’s ninth year at the helm. Spanish Fort returned as champions in 2015, 2018 and 2019.

Entering her 10th year as a Toro, Boykin was inducted into the Spanish Fort Hall of Fame earlier this fall after she was previously enshrined in halls of fame at McGill-Toolen and Montevallo. Over the summer, Boykin represented the Toros on the coaching staff of the South All-Stars as part of the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s All-Star Week.

Boykin’s high school coaching career started at McGill-Toolen Catholic, her alma mater where she was an all-state selection as a senior. The Dirty Dozen claimed the state title in Boykin’s first year as the McGill-Toolen head coach in 2005. Four more trips to the final four were made as part of a 500-97 overall record with the Yellow Jackets.

After a 29-4 start to this season, the Toros are 505-84 overall under Boykin entering the second round of play within Class 6A Area 2 on Tuesday. Altogether, Boykin’s 1,005-181 record on the high school stage logs an 84.7 winning percentage.

Boykin got her start on the sidelines at Spring Hill College where she helped revive a program that hadn’t played a match for 22 years prior. Between 2001-04, the Badgers went 101-64 and earned the school’s first appearance in the national tournament.

The coach was no stranger to the national scene from her playing days after Boykin became the University of Montevallo’s first four-year NAIA All-American honoree.

Boykin still holds Falcon program records for most assists in a single season (1,913) and for a career (7,245). She ranks second all-time in sets played (585) and service aces (356) for a career at Montevallo. In the NAIA record book, Boykin’s 7,245 assists rank second and her 356 aces are fourth all-time.

Boykin’s first high school state championship came as a player during her junior season with the McGill-Toolen Yellow Jackets. She was recognized on the 1991 all-state team as a senior alongside Shaundra Jackson.

After Tuesday’s home match against Robertsdale, Spanish Fort was scheduled to hit the road for an away contest against McGill-Toolen on Thursday.