Springfield Looks Close To Home To Fill High School Football Coach Vacancy

One of the main ingredients Dan Ellis felt he needed in turning around the dormant program in 2008 was building a strong coaching staff. When Ellis decided to take on the challenge of resurrecting the two-win program from a year before, that’s the first thing he did--put together a super staff.

With Ellis now leaving to take a head coaching position at West Chester East, the Springfield administration wants to keep some form of continuity and a number of assistant coaches under Ellis have applied and shown interest in the Springfield vacancy.

Some of the leading candidates include Tom Kline, who works in the Lower Merion School District, Chris Britton and Joe DiTullio. Springfield Athletic Director Glenn Mallon said he liked the success Ellis had with the program and would like to keep that consistency. Mallon posted the coaching position as open two weeks ago, under the idea that Ellis would most likely take the West Chester East position.

What the new coach will need to maintain is the relationships Ellis forged with a number of feeder schools within the Springfield School District. With Cardinal O’Hara, Monsignor Bonner and a number of Inter-Academic League schools looking for top grade-school talent, Springfield still managed to keep a good number of area players coming into the school.

Another priority for the new coach will be a seamless transition from the system Ellis ran to something similar. High school football is predicated on systems as much as it is talent, something traditionally strong programs like Ridley run every year, with the players knowing the system, practice regiments, the plays and the terminology. The players are familiar with a routine.

In three years at Springfield, Ellis transformed a two-win program into a District 1 Class AAA playoff team last year. He finished 17-17 at Springfield, but not before he guided the Cougars to a history-making run that saw them win their first district playoff game.

The Cougars ended the 2010-11 season with an 8-4 overall mark, losing to Central League rival Strath Haven in the district semifinals. Ellis created a high-powered offense that leaned on stars like tailback Matt Craig, who broke a number of school rushing records.

“I’m only as good as my staff, and I have a great staff,” Ellis said before last season. “We have guys on this staff that care about the program, care about kids and not only want to win, but want to build character in our players. I’m really fortunate with the guys I have around me.”