Texas’s Frisco Not just Ezekiel Elliott and Mike Zimmer will be rejoining the Dallas Cowboys in 2024. Remember Greg Ellis? He was a defensive lineman who was selected eighth overall but went on to become a Pro Bowler. Interestingly, Ellis’ career arc ends with both the team that drafted him and the coordinator who trained him.
Ellis is the only member of the Dallas coaching staff who understands the emotions of the incoming 2024 rookie class, especially the top selection picks.
Players like defensive end Marshawn Kneeland, who Ellis will be directly in charge of developing, will benefit greatly from that kind of understanding.
“Oh yeah, I can definitely relate to that [pressure they’re feeling],” Ellis replied. But having the other end is advantageous. It’s great to have played here, and I consider my role as coach to be a wonderful dream come true.”
Ellis’s road to this point hasn’t been simple. Actually, the opposite is true, but before he made any progress toward it, he made the decision to prioritize his family, which required accounting for the time he missed during his 12 years in the league as a player—his final year was spent in Oakland with the Raiders.
“My first opportunity to coach, I couldn’t take advantage of it,” he said. “I wanted my children to grow up a little bit. Since they are now older, it is beneficial for my family and myself to be active in coaching. Zim and even Bill Parcells had always encouraged me that when I initially retired, I had to become a coach.
“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.”
When he accepted the position of head coach at Texas College in Tyler, Texas—more than two hours away from his home in Southlake, Texas—he would finally embark on the next phase of his professional career. He stayed in that position until he accepted the same position at Southwestern Assemblies of God (SAGU) in Waxahachie, Texas, which was just an hour away from his home.
Ellis has fulfilled his responsibilities, including cleaning team clothing while serving as head coach.
It’s easy to appreciate the importance he contributes as a leader and instructor on defense when you consider that he is a man who, in 2007, came back from a ruptured Achilles to earn both his aforementioned Pro Bowl selection and the title of NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
“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,” Ellis said. “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. Getting here required a great deal of work.”
