Sports

Related Photos

  • Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen New North Murray boys basketball coach Tim Ellis, left, talks to Maria Bradley, principal, and athletic director Roger Rainey at the high school on Thursday.

    New coach at NM 2 mlh.jpg

Related Links

Discussion

August 24, 2012

Ellis moves into top spot for North Murray hoops

Devin Golden devingolden@daltoncitizen.com

Tim Ellis has already spent a full summer working with North Murray’s boys basketball team.

The expectation is that becoming the high school’s head coach should be a painless transition.

With the regular season three months away, Ellis has been named coach of the Mountaineers. He takes over for Eric Bishop, who was the only head coach the program had in its three years of existence, the past two as a varsity team. Bishop, who led North Murray to an appearance in the Class 2A state tournament last season, took a job with Whitfield County Schools but is not planning on coaching basketball this year.

Ellis said North Murray’s administration — specifically Roger Rainey, the school’s athletic director, and Maria Bradley, its principal — made him feel comfortable about taking charge.

“It makes a difference when you know you have the support of the people over you,” said Ellis, who added Murray County’s history of competitive basketball also made the position desirable. “When they built this school, I think there was no doubt it would carry over.”

Ellis, 40, has 17 years of teaching experience and 15 years of coaching experience. He was the assistant boys basketball coach at Southeast Whitfield from 1997 to 2002 and head coach from 2002 to 2004. He also assisted with football, softball and baseball at the school. After that, he became an assistant girls basketball coach at Dade County, working there from 2005-2011 and also helping with the golf programs.

He came to North Murray in April as an assistant football coach for first-year head coach David Gann. When Chris Bishop — Eric’s brother — stepped down as an assistant boys basketball coach in the offseason, Ellis helped Eric Bishop with summer training. Rainey pointed to that summer work and Ellis’ experience as reasons for his hire, noting he has seen the coach in action.

“This summer I saw him step right in and work a lot with the kids,” Rainey said. “I just think he brings a lot to the table, something I think can take our program to the next level.”

Said Bradley, “Coach Ellis has really been leading the basketball program all summer, and it’s been really impressive to see how hard our kids were working. So we really didn’t have to look far for a head basketball coach. We had one right before our eyes. When we hired coach Ellis early on, we knew he would bring a lot to our athletics both in football and basketball.”

An internal hire was all but a necessity for the school.

“Fulfilling our football coaching staff, we pretty much filled every teaching slot,” Rainey said.

North Murray finished 21-10 last season, finishing third in Region 7-2A to qualify for state, where the Mountaineers lost 68-50 in the opening round.

The Mountaineers finished last season with four seniors on the roster, but they had plenty of contributions from a junior class of six. That group includes Zach Vess, who was selected to The Daily Citizen’s All-Area Boys Basketball Team, and Brady Swilling, the 2012 All-Area Spring Team’s Boys Athlete of the Year.

In fact, Ellis believes the challenge is preparing for when the Class of 2013 graduates.

“One thing they had to understand is they came in when this school was developed and built,” Ellis said. “They’ve been the core of this basketball program, even as sophomores. I was in the same region, so I paid attention to all the teams. ...

“There were some upperclassmen like (all-area honorable mention T.J. Duckett) that you can’t replace, but that group, the group of seniors this year, is the core. So my biggest goal this summer was to develop kids behind them.”

Ellis will get a $5,000 coaching supplement on top of his teaching salary. He will teach health and physical education, along with driver’s education.

Text Only
Sports

AP Video
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools $1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel? Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com