By Anvil Welch
Globe Sports Writer
—
Tom Ellis, the new head football coach at Greenfield High School, was chipper on Tuesday.
He has his assistants lined up for the 2010 season.
“A month ago, we didn’t have any assistants,” Ellis said with a laugh.
Ellis, who was head coach the past four seasons at East Newton, became the winning candidate at Greenfield with the departure of Jamie LaSalle after seven years to Mount Vernon.
“It’s been a great summer,” Ellis said. “(Class 1) Greenfield is a great football community. The kids love football. Honestly, we have 28 kids, and I consistently see all of them when we do something. I couldn’t ask for a better situation.
“Greenfield expects to compete for Spring River Conference and district honors,” Ellis said. “The Greenfield players thrive on that type of challenge.
“We lost (by graduation) some good kids,” Ellis said. “We have a pretty good nucleus returning. We have a special group of seniors.
“The players are very excited about the upcoming season,” Ellis said. “They’ve worked hard this summer. They’ve done a great job.
“I enjoyed my time at East Newton,” Ellis said. “We also had some success. This (the Greenfield position) will be a challenge. There are some good teams in the Spring River Valley Conference. Three of those conference teams — Jasper, Liberal and Lockwood — will be district opponents.”
LaSalle will teach world history and assist in baseball as well as helping Joy Maberry in football. Grid duties will include wide receivers, defensive linemen and specialty teams.
LaSalle’s 2009 Greenfield team finished 10-2 overall and beat Archie in the playoffs before losing in overtime to Adrian. It was his fifth playoff team with the Wildcats.
Hopefully, LaSalle said, his workload — he also was athletic director and girls basketball coach at Greenfield — will decrease at Mount Vernon.
“I can spend more time pastoring our church (Emmanuel Baptist) in Greenfield,” LaSalle said. “I know I’ll miss coaching football in Greenfield.”
The LaSalles will send their kids off to school in different directions.
“Our oldest, Audrey, will be a sophomore and continue to attend Greenfield (and play basketball),” LaSalle said. “Jacob, a seventh-grader, and our youngest, Tori, a fifth-grader, will attend Mount Vernon. We lived in Mount Vernon for 12 years and Jacob played sports with those kids.”
Mlller head coach Dustin Baldwin, Jamie’s cousin, has landed Jamie’s dad, Jim, to coach junior high football.
Ellis’ assistants include Derek Binford (who also will be the new girls basketball coach) and Jimmy Stokes (who played for LaSalle at Greenfield). Stokes will work with the defensive backs, Binford with receivers.
Matt Ells, former Monett linebacker (tight ends-linebackers), and Tony Daniels (both lines) complete the assistants.
“I probably will coordinate both offense and defense,” Ellis said. “I’m excited about doing both jobs.”
Ellis, a graduate of St. Mary’s-Colgan High School and Pittsburg State, began coaching as a freshman in college at Colgan under Chuck Smith and Mike Watt at the junior high level.
Ellis, following five years with the Panthers, spent one-year stints in Kansas at Fredonia, Miege and Girard before coming to Missouri. He assisted Mark Johnson for four years at Monett and seven at Sedalia Smith-Cotton before moving to East Newton.
The next big game for Ellis is obvious — Miller at Greenfield on Aug. 27.
