It hasn’t been an easy journey to this point for Ellis. Quite the contrary, actually, but before he took a single step toward it, he chose to put his family first; and that meant also factoring in the time he spent away in his 12 years as a player in the league — the final year being in Oakland with the Raiders.
“My first opportunity to coach, I couldn’t take advantage of it,” he explained. “I wanted my kids to get a bit older. They’re older now so it works out well for my family and myself, to be involved with coaching. … Zim, and even Bill Parcells, they always told me I needed to coach when I first retired.
“I loved it and wanted to do it, but I’m a workaholic, to be honest with you, and I know that football welcomes that but it wouldn’t have been good for my family — being so young.”
He’d finally pursue the next chapter of his professional career when he took the job as head coach of Texas College in Tyler, Texas, more than two hours away from his home in Southlake, Texas, and remained there until he accepted the same role at Southwestern Assemblies of God (SAGU) in Waxahachie, Texas — one hour away from his home.
Ellis has paid his dues, even when that included washing team uniforms … as head coach.
Add that to the character of a man who once returned from a ruptured Achilles to earn his aforementioned Pro Bowl nod along with honors as NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 2007, and it’s not difficult to see the value he brings as a leader and mentor on defense.
“When people say, ‘He’s only here because he played for the Cowboys,’ I’m like nah, nah, I had to go through some stuff to get here; and I’m glad I did,” said Ellis. “I came in[to coaching] at ground level, driving two hours everyday to get to football practice from Southlake to Tyler — doing the [team’s] laundry, all that kinda stuff I went through.
“I did all those things. A lot of work went into getting here.”
And now that he’s [back] here in Dallas, Ellis is looking to rekindle the success he had with Zimmer in yesteryear, but in a much different way this time around.
“The biggest change with him is me being a coach, and me not playing for him,” he said of Zimmer. “I have a tremendous respect for him from when I played for him, because he’s a tremendous teacher of the game. He taught me a lot about the game. To be on the other side of it with him is different for me.”
