Who says you can’t go home again?
Three years after resigning as the head softball coach at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School, Tony Ellis is back in that position. Ellis, who remained a teacher at the Catoosa County school after resigning, confirmed his hiring Tuesday and said the opportunity came up quickly.
“Honestly, this all came together over the weekend,” he said. “I had a long conversation with our principal (Teri Vandiver), and I was impressed with the plan she has for our athletic programs. I’m very excited about it because coaching fastpitch softball is something I really love to do, and I want to see this program succeed.”
Ellis, who succeeded program founder Chip Liner in 2004, had a record of 233-60-4 with six region championships in eight seasons. Each of his teams made the state playoffs, twice finishing as runner-up.
He replaces Lisa Gray, who resigned recently to spend more time with her family. After making the playoffs in her first season, Gray’s LFO teams failed to reach the postseason the past two years.
Ellis admits finding the same success he is accustomed to at LFO will be difficult at first, but he sees a program that has a bright future.
“Things have changed a lot over the last three years with the program,” he said. “We’ve had some down seasons and we’ve lost a few good players to other programs. However, there are some good players here and I look forward to working with them and building this program back up.”
Ellis is well aware the Lady Warriors, who were 14-17 last year, play in the toughest region in Class AAA and reside in a county where softball excellence is expected.
“This area is so tough,” said Ellis, who is a volunteer coach with former player Lauren Flores at Chattanooga Christian this season. “Just in our county, Ringgold and Heritage are great programs, and in our region Calhoun is a two-time state champion and brings just about everybody back. You look in the area and you have championship programs at Northwest Whitfield and Gordon Lee and teams like Ridgeland and LaFayette are really good.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us, but I can’t wait to get started.”
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.