Greg Ellis knew long ago that he was going to get into coaching after he finished playing in the NFL. He just didn’t know where or when that opportunity might arise.
The former Cowboys and Raiders defensive lineman has found a home at Southwestern Assemblies of God University, a small school in Waxahachie, Texas. He was hired as the head coach of SAGU’s football team in June, his second opportunity to be a head coach at the collegiate level.
Coaching football and playing it is different, but Ellis is cut out for this. He was a highly intelligent player who saw the game through a different lens than many, always putting in the work by staying late to study film and give himself any sort of advantage over his opponents.
He’s thrilled to take over as SAGU’s head coach for the 2022 season, inheriting a team that enjoyed a successful 2021 campaign in which they lost three games.
I’m very excited for the opportunity to be able to work at a great school,” Ellis told OSDB Sports via phone. “They have a lot of talent on the football team based on last year’s performance. A lot of time you go to the school, first year as a head coach, you have to build it up a little bit.
“But based on last year’s team, we do have a lot of talent. But it does come with some opposition because they had a great season, only lost three games, so it makes it a little more difficult to make sure guys that are returning don’t think other teams aren’t going to lie down for them. As coaches, we’ve got to push ourselves hard and be disciplined knowing we have a bullseye on our chest. But as a competitor, it’s an excellent opportunity and great place to be.”
Ellis is keeping on many of the assistant coaches from the previous staff, which he calls “a blessing for us.”
He’s also begun assembling the rest of his staff and getting to know his players.
Because players are spread out across the country until they return to school, Ellis has to use Zoom to meet them, attempting to quickly establish relationships.
“As soon as you get hired as a new head coach, it’s a lot of responsibility, a lot of things to do,” said Ellis, the NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 2007 and a Pro Bowler that season. “That first year, you don’t get any off time. And even when you’re supposed to be taking off time, you’re still doing stuff. Still got three phones and working the phones and we’re in the middle of hiring coaches. We brought some in already. A lot of the coaches will be returning, so that’s a blessing for us. Players, they’re scattered around. When we do get the opportunity to meet them, I enjoy that opportunity. We have Zoom meetings so I can have some interaction with them. The technology is there for us to talk with each other, so doing as much as I can do to establish that relationship with the guys as quick as possible.”
This isn't Ellis’ first opportunity to coach football. He got his start as a head coach at Texas College in 2020, but the season was canceled due to COVID-19. The team struggled in 2021 when it returned to the field, and after just one season, Ellis resigned from his position.
Even before Texas College, he did what he called “spot coaching.” He was invited to Vikings and Bengals training camps in the past, but he didn’t stay on full-time because the timing wasn’t right for him and his family.
“I’ve done some spot coaching,” he said. “Coaches have asked me to come up to their training camps up in Minnesota, Cincinnati, those two NFL teams. Didn’t have a stay there because I got three kids, so I turned down opportunities to coach because I didn’t want to be away from my kids so much when they were so young and leave so much on my wife. They’re older now so when coaching opportunities presented themselves, it was easier for me to say yes to it.”
Having played at the highest level of the sport, Ellis has plenty of experience and knowledge to draw from as he attempts to develop the young athletes at SAGU. But his time as a player also has some downsides as a coach now.
As a player, he was able to control at least some of what happened on the field. He determined whether he beat the guy lined up across from him. He determined whether he made a tackle on a ball carrier in the hole.
But as a coach, he can only watch from the sidelines and hope his players execute the game plan put in place and make the necessary plays to win the game.
“More so for me, I was a huge student of the game,” he said. “Coaches like Bill Parcells, Mike Zimmer. They encouraged me and said I had to coach. They were like, ‘You know so much about the game, you’ll be a great help for the athletes. You gotta coach.’
“Now, to have the opportunity to do that is great. I’m pulling on a lot of from experience from those coaches because it’s such a big difference between playing the game and coaching the game. You have to refrain yourself because as a player, you can go out and physically do something about what’s going on on the football field. But your frustrations as a coach would never lead you to go back out there and play. You have to hone in to figure out how I can get the most out of this football program. I have to stay in the lab in teaching mode to make sure I'm getting the most out of everybody that’s involved.”
Ellis learned from some of the best coaches in the NFL, as well as an all-time great at the college level. His college coach at UNC was Mack Brown, a College Football Hall of Famer. While playing for Brown, Ellis learned the importance of coaching position coaches, not just players.
He saw firsthand how hard Brown was on his position coaches, and it benefited the whole team.
“Mack understood the importance of coaching your position coaches and Mack spent time with us as players, but he sure did pull a lot of himself and put a lot of pressure on the position coaches,” Ellis said. “He’s hard on position coaches and rightfully so because he realized you as a position coach will spend way more time with these athletes than I ever will. It’s not because I don’t want to spend time with them, but there’s 140 of them. How am I going to be around all of them to give them individual attention?”
In the NFL, Ellis got to play for Mike Zimmer and Bill Parcells. Zimmer was his defensive coordinator, and he taught Ellis the importance of every little thing that may not seem to matter.
Understanding the small things,” Ellis said. “He was my defensive coordinator in Dallas. Just understanding the detail of every little thing. I learned a lot of that from him.”
As for Parcells, it’s no surprise that Ellis learned “the mental toughness it takes to play the game” from him. Parcells was a demanding coach, and it took a lot of mental fortitude to play for him like Ellis did in Dallas.
“As a head coach, I learned from Mack Brown and Bill Parcells about how you can make sure you’re getting the most out of your position coaches,” Ellis said. “You might get the best out of your football players, but if you’re not getting the best out of your coaches, you won't be the best football team you can be.”
Ellis is thrilled to be coaching SAGU’s football team, but he still wants to one day coach in the NFL. It may not be for a while, however, because he puts his family first. He would jump at the chance to be a position coach or an NFL head coach one day when the time is right.
“For me right now, I'm very content because my kids are older, but we still have one who’s 13. Right now, I'm more than content,” he said. “I understand I have to prove myself at this level in order to get a shot. To get a shot as a position coach in the NFL, there’s still enough guys in the arena where I feel like I have a lot to bring to the table so that’s one thing.
“To get that big shot, that will be way down the road if that ever presents itself. But when our last one finishes high school and things are going good, that’s something I would definitely see myself doing, would like to do. I love football and if my wife is cool with it and the opportunity is there, it’s something I would say yes to. But not now because we’re concentrating on helping SAGU be the best possible football program it can be.”
