Friday Night Highlight: Coaches reconnect with return to East Newton

Sep. 7—Tom Ellis was the head coach of the East Newton football team in 2006 and stayed in charge of the program through 2009, when he left to be head coach at Greenfield the next year.

Fast forward 14 years, Ellis is back in the red and blue and is in the midst of his third season back with the Patriots. In 2021, Ellis coached under Kyle Wood, who left the next year and East Newton named Ellis the head coach for 2022.

In between seasons, the defensive coordinator left East Newton so Ellis made a phone call to an old friend in hopes of brining him on to his staff for 2023.

"I called coach P and said, 'Hey, do you have any interest in coming back to the Newt?'" Ellis said. "It's been awesome having him back."

Coach P is Larry Perkins, another former head coach at East Newton. There's a unique story to how these two coaches connect.

Back in the mid-to-late 1990's, Ellis was an assistant at Monett High School and actually faced off against Perkins, who was the defensive coordinator for then head coach Larry Bunn.

"I coached against East Newton and knew a lot about the school and how tough the kids were and how good the coaching staff was. So that's kind of where it all started," Ellis said of his connection with Perkins.

Following his time at Monett, Ellis took off to Sedalia to coach, spending time away from the area.

In 2004 and 2005, Perkins took over as head coach for Bunn. Then, here comes Ellis in '06 to take the reigns as Perkins left and become a coach at Neosho.

After leaving East Newton and going up to Greenfield for awhile, Ellis received a call from Neosho's head coach with a position available. Ellis accepted and was coaching alongside Perkins for the first time since competing against one another in the 1990's. The two coached together for eight seasons with the Wildcats.

"The eight years we were together at Neosho (I learned) he's a great coach, he's a great person and I told our team this year the very first day, 'You guys will be better humans for having coach Perkins in your life," Ellis said. "And I truly believe that. He's a great human being and he cares about kids."

Perkins had stepped away from coaching altogether for three years before that phone call came from Ellis.

A mutual friend of the two from Neosho, Randy Mustain, recommended that Ellis call Perkins and offer him a job. Ellis admitted he hadn't thought of that yet but his reaction was, "Holy mackarel! That's a great idea."

"I didn't have to think very long," Perkins said. "As he (Ellis) said, I did talk to the boss (wife) a little bit. But, when she saw the smile on my face she knew what I wanted. It was perfect timing."

Today, Perkins is teaching at McAuley Catholic in Joplin while driving over to East Newton to coach after school.

Perkins recalls those moments of having to go up against the Monett defenses that Ellis led, saying it was "guaranteed" that you would get the best form Monett every Friday night you faced them.

He added that the connection the two built at Neosho was apparent through their ability to bounce ideas off one another and gameplan through their mutual understanding as defensive-minded coaches.

THIS SEASON

East Newton fields a young roster in 2023 but has already seen an improvement from its 2022 season.

The Patriots didn't win a game last year but went on the road last week and beat Hollister 20-18. Hollister beat East Newton 14-7 last year.

"It was huge. There's no other way to say it," Ellis said. "It was just awesome to see their reaction. I told them after the game I was so happy for them to finally get that win. Hopefully we can continue to build off of it."

"For me, it was the same thing. Just seeing the relief in the eyes of the players," Perkins said. "The energy that the kids had on the bus ride home. The didn't sleep the entire time they were so excited. Those are the things I appreciated just being a part of."

Aside from winning that game, Ellis has seen his group put in the work necessary to improve as a team.

"The kids are doing an amazing job," Ellis said. "They have taken to coaching, they're working hard, our seniors have done a great job leading."

He added that Perkins and the players did a lot of work together this offseason.

"It's truly been a blessing," Perkins said. "When he asked me to come, I didn't know what to expect and I didn't know how the kids would react. I told my wife after coaching the first week, 'There's something special about this group.'"

Perkins said it isn't just a blessing on the football field. Even seeing the Patriots do good things off the field has been something that he's missed since his departure from coaching.

Having lived in the school district since 2007, Ellis said it was a no-brainer to come back when Wood called him and asked him to join his staff in 2021.

"This place has always had a special place in my heart," Ellis said.

Perkins said it was going to take a special phone call to get him back into coaching.

"There were very few people that if they called I would have even considered," he said.

This will be Perkins' last ride, but Ellis says he needs him to stick around for a few more years.

"I'm going to run with it as long as I can and, God willing, I'm going to do it every day I can," Perkins said.

Ellis credits Perkins with bringing in contagious energy this year that has helped him during his 36th year of coaching high school football.

"Sometimes the grind can get to you," Ellis said. "This year has been outstanding. His energy and his outlook, it has rubbed off on me and I've kind of been reenergized by the whole process as well."

He admitted this might just be his last ride as well.

"I'll tell ya, it's getting close to my last ride, too," Ellis added. "The goal when I took this job back over was we want to get East Newton back to winning football games, competing in the conference, competing for district championships and make some runs in the playoffs."

Both coaches aren't going anywhere until they fulfill some of those aspirations. Perkins is still awaiting a state championship that he came close to during his first stint with the Patriots.

ABOUT THE GAME

East Newton (1-1) plays host to Nevada (2-0) on Friday night. The two teams have not played a common opponent yet this year.

The Patriots fell to Logan-Rogersville in Week 1 before beating Hollister. The Tigers have beaten both Springfield Catholic and Reeds Spring while averaging 51 points per game.