High school football preview: Seismic changes for Elyria, EC

The landscape of high school football in Elyria changed dramatically over the past six months. Elyria High and Elyria Catholic have new coaches and each hire sent shockwaves throughout Northeast Ohio. The first blockbuster news came when the Pioneers hired Brian Fox away from the Panthers on Feb. 7 to replace Devlin Culliver, who had resigned in December after taking the coaching job at Youngstown East to be closer to his family. The next bombshell came March 16 when the Panthers announced the hiring of Pioneers great Chase Farris, who's 30 years old and less than a decade removed from winning a national championship at Ohio State and a Super Bowl ring with the New England Patriots. Elyria Catholic doubled down on its stunning news by hiring Troy Smith — the 2006 Heisman Trophy-winning Ohio State quarterback and Baltimore Ravens draft pick — as its offensive coordinator and Doran Grant, a cornerback on the Buckeyes' 2014 national championship team with Farris and a Pittsburgh Steelers draft pick, as its defensive coordinator. The buzz surrounding the teams has grown over the past few months and both schools and their fanbases have legitimate reasons to be excited about the potential of the programs this season and beyond. That hype will reach a fever pitch with the season starting, but the teams and the coaches had a long journey to get here. COACHING ROOTS Fox starred as a linebacker for Huron High and began what he hoped would be a promising collegiate career at Baldwin Wallace, but it didn't take long to figure out his favorite place on the field was going to be standing on the sideline. "When I went to college I found out that I didn't love football like I thought I did, but what I also realized was that my big love was helping people," said Fox, who said neck and back injuries added to the premature end of his playing career. "But in football I found my favorite way to work with people. It's an exciting sport and coaches can really have a big impact on kids. So the sport just gave me the gateway to do what I really love, which is connect with people." The switch from player to coach was immediate, as Fox became a student assistant linebackers coach for the Yellow Jackets from 2007-09. During his senior year, he branched out by serving as the co-head coach of the Cleveland Cobras semipro team during the summer before helping as an assistant for Brookside in the fall. "I got a chance to work with (BW) Coach (John) Snell and he's just a wonderful human being — he still texts me, you know?" Fox said. "I was the offensive coordinator for the Cobras and that was a crazy summer. They have a computer poll system of like 500 (semipro) teams and we were ranked No. 9 in the nation. We ended up winning a game and then our quarterback goes up in the stands and gets in a fight. I'm just like, 'I'm not doing that anymore,' and two weeks later I started helping out at Brookside." After graduating from BW in 2011, Fox spent four years as the offensive skills coach and strength and conditioning coordinator at Illinois College. He moved to Heidelberg University for two seasons as the pass game coordinator, quarterbacks coach and strength and conditioning coordinator. "I've always wanted to just learn as much as humanly possible," Fox said. "I'm the kind of guy who just turns on clinic tape to watch the film. And I've had some amazing mentors. Garrett Campbell (at Illinois College) was absolutely phenomenal and we broke a lot of records … and going to Heidelberg and spending two years with Coach (Scott) Donaldson was amazing and he's as good of a person you're going to find in football." While Fox was cutting his teeth in the coaching profession, Farris was excelling on the field in Columbus and building strong bonds with his future EC coordinators. This is Farris' first coaching job, but he earned valuable experience in high school and college when he was asked as an upperclassman to mentor the younger players. "We had like seven or eight sophomores starting," Farris said of his senior year at Elyria. "So me being able to bring those guys along and help them any way I could, that was important (to spark an interest in coaching). But I also had a great coach in Steve Hamilton who pulled me aside and said, 'Hey, that's not the way to do this … try this.' Having a guy like that in my corner, you can never really go wrong." Grinding to get better while wearing shoulder pads, Farris was also learning how to coach from watching some of the best in the business. Luke Fickell — the coach at Wisconsin — was Ohio State's coach during Farris' freshman year and Urban Meyer took over for the last four seasons. Farris also got to see Jim Caldwell of the Detroit Lions and Bill Belichick of the Patriots up close during his time in the NFL. "When you're a leader, you're constantly looking to grow," Farris said. "(Grant and I) can pull from our memories and pull from our experiences, and map out different things. So being able to have those different relationships and at the same time now being able to call those guys … don't be afraid to use your resources. You can see the Ohio State coaching tree spread out — their coaches are everywhere. So if I ever have a question … I've got a guy I can call with a running back question or a guy for any other position. It's an amazing feeling." MAKING ELYRIA GREAT As Farris was trying to find a job outside of the NFL — he signed with the Atlanta Legends of the Alliance of American Football in 2018 and then was drafted by the DC Defenders of the XFL in 2020 — Fox found his way back to Lorain County, accepting the head job at Elyria Catholic in 2018. "Coaching at a college level is all about the sport and it got to the point where it felt like you were just doing football all day," Fox said. "I was the strength coach for the athletic department and I was asked to recruit — I brought in 25 kids a year — and then on top of that I taught two classes. You do all that and college coaching doesn't pay anything — coaching at Illinois State I made $5,000 a year. "But what I wanted more than anything was to be in the school, helping the kids, being there for them and learning more about them. I just didn't want to show up and tell them where to run around. So when I went to the high school level it kind of filled that void that I was looking for." The Panthers thrived under Fox's direction, and it didn't take long. Taking over a team that had went 3-7 the previous season, Fox helped Elyria Catholic go 9-3 during his debut season, including a postseason home win over Anna before losing 42-41 to Genoa Area in the regional semifinals. The highlights continued over the next four years — although 2020 was mostly forgettable as the coronavirus pandemic limited the Panthers to six games and they were forced to forfeit their playoff opener after a pair of players tested positive for the virus just days before the matchup. EC bounced back for an 11-3 season in 2021 — including three playoff victories, tying the most in school history — and went 10-3 in its Division IV debut last season, which included a 14-6 victory over the Pioneers to open the season. As Elyria Catholic was making its best run since winning back-to-back state championships in 1983-84, Farris was making the difficult decision to walk away from football and the easy decision to return to his hometown. "I just had this moment where I was really reflecting on what I had going on," Farris said. "I just wasn't feeling really fulfilled. I felt like I was just going through the motions. I was going to work every day, I was making good money but something was missing. "Then I came back and just walked into Save Our Children. I was like, 'Yeah, I can do this.'" Farris, who earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at Ohio State, was named the executive director of the non-profit organization the same day Elyria Catholic played its final game in 2020. Save Our Children serves students from kindergarten to 12th grade throughout Elyria as an afterschool outreach program. "I call it Elyria's best-kept secret," Farris said. "It's actually been around for over 40 years but it never really received the publicity or recognition that they deserved. So me coming back and taking over kind of created a buzz around the program and we started getting a little more traction. We changed things up, added field trips and revamped our focus areas. We really started to step out into the community." OFFSEASON FIREWORKS Farris said he became comfortable in his role and then became motivated to do more. The first thoughts of coaching began creeping into his mind last winter — he also had designs on being an athletic director — and just a short time later Culliver announced his resignation and the top job at Farris' alma mater was vacant. "For the last two years I've gotten offers to coach at different schools, but I never really saw too much into it," Farris said. "I'd go be a gameday coach here, pop up at a camp there and tell anyone who asked that if the players needed anything to give me a call. "So (the Elyria job) was definitely on my radar and I finally put in my application the day before the deadline because everyone was like, 'You've got to do this. You know the kids, you can bring the team together and turn things around.'" Farris submitted an application. Fox did not. Yet it was Fox who was hired a few weeks later. Social media exploded with passionate posts — positive and negative — and the bulk of the criticism centered on Elyria's alleged poaching of its crosstown rival's leader. "When adults get mad about (the hiring) and they have negative things to say … I can't really worry about that," Fox said. "But when the (EC) kids get upset, I mean, I could really see they were hurt by the decision. And when I told them, I'm not going to lie, I cried for about an hour straight." Fox said he definitely had a good situation at Elyria Catholic but was impressed with what Elyria High had to offer. "When it comes down to it, public school education and how that pays for retirement and all that stuff … it was an easy answer," Fox said. "(Elyria) had a phenomenal amount of talent and it's a beautiful school system. The facilities are incredible and they invest a lot in trying to make it a special program. When I talked to some people about the job — people I hold in extremely high regard — they said it was just a gold mine." The story of Fox's hiring mentioned two assistant coaches — Dave McFarland and Farris — who might join the Pioneers staff. The former Oberlin and Lorain coach did consult Fox throughout the integration process but lived out of state and wasn't able to return to Lorain County. Farris was happy to give some free advice. "I was just as surprised as anyone else when I saw my name in the article," Farris said. "But I went up there and met with (Fox) and tried to figure out what he wanted to do, how he wanted to run things and we had a conversation for about an hour. I told him I was keeping my options open, but I did want to leave him with a few tidbits about the community, how to really get engagement, how to get the parents and students to trust you and get things rolling." As the din over Fox's hiring began to fade, Elyria Catholic sent out a pair of news releases that again set the city's football communities ablaze. On March 1, the Panthers announced they had replaced Elyria with Liberty-Benton as their opening opponent. Both fanbases took to social media to voice their displeasure. "I know the kids were upset on both sides," Fox said. "I've run into a few of them and they were really looking forward to that game. It's just too bad because you go back to last year and the gate was something like $20,000. The three years we played (in 2020-22) the kids were wonderful together. There was never a problem, never a fight and they hung around and took pictures with each other after the games. So I feel like the kids wanted and deserved that game, and I think it should have been played still." A couple of weeks later came the announcement that the Ohio State trio would be taking over the Panthers program. Farris gives EC athletic director Jim Piazza the bulk of the credit for the way things happened, including the additions of Smith and Grant and the extravagant news release event that included a congratulations video by Meyer. "Yeah, I wasn't expecting that," Farris said. "(Piazza) reached out to Urb and let him know what was going on and they shot the video somewhere it was sunny because I know it was chilly here. "Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes people have to say no for others to say yes. It just started with a visit (to EC) and everything ramped up from there. We've got a chance to do something special here." That special something included a youth camp that was open to players across the county and run by the Panthers staff a couple of weeks ago. "We went from being citywide to countywide," Farris said. "From serving young men from only Elyria to helping kids from Lorain, Avon, Amherst, Vermilion, North Ridgeville … so that was an amazing opportunity." READY TO GO Both programs have endured dramatic twists and turns to get to where they are, but the Pioneers and Panthers are aligned when it comes to the promise of an exciting season and the uncertainty of how young rosters will perform. Both teams had a plethora of standout seniors last season and many players will be expected to step up early this year. Elyria was able to replace EC with Cincinnati Princeton for its opener and even managed to talk the Vikings into making the four-hour journey north. "I haven't really looked at them that much," Fox said. "Every time I feel like we have a lot of fun game-planning, nothing ever goes right. So at the end of the day, Week 1, Week 2 doesn't matter. If you really want to find out who you're preparing for in any given week, all you've got to do is look in the mirror." Cincinnati Princeton, a perennial playoff powerhouse, is a tough test for Fox's debut, and he received no favors when it came to his Southwestern Conference start in Week 4. The Pioneers open league play against Avon, which has won the SWC championship the past seven seasons. "(Avon coach Mike Elder) set forth the blueprint as far as how to build a program," Fox said. "When I played at Huron, Avon was much different. We played them my junior and senior year and I remember we had pretty convincing wins against them, then I go off to Illinois and they're talking about recruiting and talking about Avon and I'm like, 'What? They're terrible.' And all of a sudden it's like, 'No, you are incredibly wrong.'" Fox has a trio of players returning who received All-Northeast Lakes district honorable mention last season — senior Devon Johnson and juniors Zyon Newson and Laron Anderson. "Those three are phenomenal," Fox said. "The two juniors have incredible talent and they've been playing for a long time. They have big personalities and are very fun to be around. Devon Johnson is a kid that continues to shine and make me proud — he gets incredible grades and goes through every drill with incredible effort. "But there are a few kids that got a little overshadowed (last season) because of that phenomenal senior class they had. There's so many names, and I wouldn't want to forget some, but I think we have a chance to be special." Each of the games the first few weeks will be special for Farris. The opener against Liberty-Benton will be his head coaching debut, Week 2 against Sandusky Perkins will be his first home game and Week 3 at Midview will be his first matchup against a county opponent. "We play a one-game season each week and every week we strive to go 1-0," said Farris, who did point to a dry erase board in the coach's office that had the top 10 Division IV teams in the state written on it. "You've just got to know if you do that by the end of the year we can do something special and try to make a run. There are a few teams we're looking at, that we're focused on, but the No. 1 priority is us. There's no way we can beat anybody if we're beating ourselves each and every day." Farris will have a solid core of returning talent, led by senior offensive lineman Jackson Smith, who was an All-Ohio third-team selection last season. Also earning postseason recognition were senior kicker Nicholas Phillips, senior linebacker Graydon Rollins and junior defensive back Brady Engle — all landed on the all-district second team. "We've got a lot of young guys looking to make some noise this year," Farris said. "We're changing the culture. You can play like there's no hierarchy when it comes to playing time. If you can play, you can play … and we're going to fill 22 spots with whoever gives their best effort." Farris is in the unusual position of having strong ties to Elyria High and its fans and trying to build the same relationship at Elyria Catholic. While the programs look significantly different than they did a year ago, Farris believes there is no divide between the schools. "Being able to help the last three years, mentoring kids and being in all those meetings … it's an amazing feeling. Then coming over here, I'm really trying to connect to both sides," Farris said. "So it's like it's a tale of two teams, but in reality we're still one community. At the end of the day, we all live in the same place, we shop in the same stores, we go to the same movies … we do the same thing. "I still care about my community, regardless of the jersey. It still says Elyria on the front … it just has an extra word after." Contact Shaun Bennett at (440) 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on X.