{"id":32086,"date":"2016-02-24T18:12:48","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T00:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=32086"},"modified":"2016-03-02T11:33:29","modified_gmt":"2016-03-02T17:33:29","slug":"evanston-coach-keeps-his-eyes-on-the-real-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/evanston-coach-keeps-his-eyes-on-the-real-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"Evanston coach keeps his eyes on the real prize"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q&A: Wildkits basketball coach Mike Ellis<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Julia Cardi<\/strong><\/p>\n

Twice in the past decade, Mike Ellis coached teams at Richwoods High School\u00a0in Peoria to within three points of winning state championships. Now he’s four games away from\u00a0the title with the Evanston Wildkits. But he’s not asking his players to bring home the trophy\u00a0for his sake.<\/p>\n

After more than 20 years coaching high school basketball – including 14 at Richwoods and the last six at Evanston – Ellis has come to focus more on mentoring his players\u00a0than on cutting down the nets.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

During an interview in his office, Ellis, 45, discussed why he loves coaching at the high school level, how he keeps his players from getting complacent and what he’s learned from them. Excerpts:<\/p>\n

Q: Why do you coach?<\/strong>
\nI have a love for the game. I just feel like it\u2019s our duty to present [the players] with the greatest experience in high school basketball. Not everybody\u2019s going to go on to play college basketball, and it\u2019s satisfying to me when we hear graduates come back and say they felt like they played college basketball in high school.<\/p>\n

I just want to be able to have student-athletes walk across the stage at graduation, reflecting on their basketball experiences and having no regrets. If [they’re having regrets], I know that it\u2019s time to hang it up. So there\u2019s that bond with them, where they\u2019re getting all of me, and I feel like they\u2019re investing all of them[selves] into the program, too.<\/p>\n

Q: Why high school basketball, as opposed to any other level of program?<\/strong>
\nI think you can have the greatest impact on the growth and development of a young person\u2019s life in his teenage years. Compared to coaching at the next level, where it\u2019s about recruiting, it\u2019s about scholarships, it\u2019s about winning, those things aren\u2019t present at the high school level.<\/p>\n

So you can take away some of those elements that allow you to enjoy the day-to-day aspect of coaching, which is teaching kids about lessons in life – not just putting the ball in the basket, but what it\u2019s going to require of you to be a successful businessperson, a successful spouse, a successful citizen in the community.<\/p>\n

Q: How do you keep your players hungry?<\/strong>
\n[Not giving enough] compliments is probably a weakness of mine, because I want to defend against being complacent. You just try to instill upon them we can always get better. We don\u2019t have any magical goals or dreams of winning the state [championship] and those types of things. Our goals are as simple as, “Let\u2019s be better tomorrow than we are today.”<\/p>\n

\"Coach
Coach Mike Ellis talks to senior Micquel Roseman during a game against Glenbrook South. (Julia Cardi\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Q: What story from your coaching career really stands out?<\/strong>
\n[On Senior Night, we honored point guard] Dajae Coleman and his legacy he left on our community, having been senselessly shot and killed as a freshman [in September 2012].<\/p>\n

Aaron Davis was our point guard at Peoria Richwoods, and he had to deal with a similar situation where someone invaded his home. He was shot three times and survived, and ended up playing in the state finals a year later.<\/p>\n

So comparing those two situations, you just see how blessed some people are, and how lucky we all are here on Earth, and not to take any day for granted. Going into coaching I never thought that I would have to deal with two players being shot.<\/p>\n

For me, the players that go back into coaching may speak to the impact I\u2019ve had on their lives. <\/span>They really enjoyed the experiences they\u2019ve had with us, and now they want to turn around and give back to the sport.<\/p>\n

Q: Obviously, coaching is about teaching players how to be better at their game and as people. What have your players taught you?<\/strong>
\nOff the court, I\u2019m very laid-back, I\u2019m very introverted; I\u2019m not an outgoing person. But when you get on the court, it\u2019s like you\u2019re doing it for them. You want them to have the most knowledgeable experience and drive them the hardest, where you want them to be goal-driven in life.<\/p>\n

There are times when I can see it in their eyes that they\u2019re not having the most enjoyment, but when you wake up the next day and come back to practice and they give a little more, they\u2019re teaching me that those lessons are valuable.<\/p>\n

Q: What do you think gets them through on days when they aren\u2019t enjoying themselves on the court?<\/strong>
\nI think it\u2019s our culture. High school students, they aren\u2019t going out and trying to win a state tournament for their coach. There\u2019s so much more in their life besides one person that\u2019s been in their life for three or four years. What we do successfully, I believe, is they want to do it for each other. They want to win for the right reasons. You shouldn\u2019t want to win for your coach.<\/p>\n

Q: Why don\u2019t you think they should want to win for their coach?<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s me being modest or humble, but when it comes down to it, I think the relationships they have with their friends at this age are so much more influential than a person they see a couple hours a day. I\u2019m going to give them everything I have and every lesson I have, but maybe I just don\u2019t think I\u2019m that impactful in their lives.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re in the state tournament and there\u2019s 30 seconds to go and the game\u2019s tied and there\u2019s a loose ball, I don\u2019t think they\u2019re saying, \u201cLet me go get that for Coach.\u201d It\u2019s, “We.” “Us.” “We\u2019ve got to make sure we make this play.”<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Coach Mike Ellis talks to the Wildkits during a game against Glenbrook South. (Julia Cardi\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q&A: Wildkits basketball coach Mike Ellis By Julia Cardi Twice in the past decade, Mike Ellis coached teams at Richwoods High School\u00a0in Peoria to within three points of winning state championships. Now he’s four games away from\u00a0the title with the Evanston Wildkits. But he’s not asking his players to bring home the trophy\u00a0for his sake. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":241,"featured_media":32616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,585],"tags":[597,328,1048,1746,1679,192,1678],"class_list":["post-32086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-winter-2016","tag-basketball","tag-evanston","tag-high-school-sports","tag-julia-cardi","tag-mike-ellis","tag-promo","tag-wildkits"],"yoast_head":"\nEvanston coach keeps his eyes on the real prize - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/evanston-coach-keeps-his-eyes-on-the-real-prize\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Evanston coach keeps his eyes on the real prize - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Q&A: Wildkits basketball coach Mike Ellis By Julia Cardi Twice in the past decade, Mike Ellis coached teams at Richwoods High School\u00a0in Peoria to within three points of winning state championships. 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