Longtime Ennis football coach Sam Harrell retiring amid battle with MS

ENNIS, Texas - Long-time Ennis Lions football head coach Sam Harrell may take the sidelines for the last time in his Hall of Fame career on Thursday amid a battle with MS.

Harrell has run the show in Ennis for most of the last three decades. With some help, Ennis could still get into the playoffs, but it's quite possible that the 68-year-old will mark the end of his coaching career.

Harrell is often confined to coaching from a motorized wheelchair. For the second time in his career, Multiple sclerosis (MS) has taken from him one of the things he loves most; coaching. 

"It affects my leg, my walking. I can't walk. That's why I'm on that scooter. It will also affect my arms at times, and my voice and different things. And some things just make it worse than others. Heat makes it real bad. And getting tired makes it bad," said Coach Harrell. 

Coach Harrell has been down this road before. He came to Ennis in 1994, resurrecting the football program. Winning state titles in 2000, 2001 and 2004. But in 2009 he was forced to resign as he battled MS the first time around. 

Stem cell treatments in Panama followed. He regained his strength and returned to the program in 2018. But now MS has stepped in again and Harrell is forced to step away. 

"I just don't feel like I can coach like I like to coach. I'm on a scooter. I can't get out in the sun. That's the life of a coach in Texas, especially," he said.

When it comes to coaching high school football in Texas, Sam Harrell has been the gold standard. A Hall of Famer, a big time winner, but to hear his longtime assistants tell it, Sam Harrell's legacy goes far beyond wins and losses. 

"He's touched countless lives. He always reminds us that's what the good Lord's going to ask us some day. It's not going to be state titles or wins, but did you impact any lives? There's no doubt he's touched countless (lives)," said Steve Marrow, Ennis Assistant Coach.

"Besides the state championships and the record, he's always treated kids well. Whenever new coaches come in, he would tell them ways that you could lose your job. One of them was how you treat the kids. We don't belittle them. We build them up and his legacy, for me, is what he's done for the kids in Ennis," said Ennis Assistant Coach Paul Willingham.

Sam Harrell is the son of a football coach and now his three sons are football coaches too. Including Graham Harrell, former All State quarterback and state champ in Ennis, who later played in the NFL. 

Sam appreciates the fact that he now has the chance to coach the sons of some of the players who once suited up for him. For Harrell, coaching is not just a job, it's a calling. With that in mind, I asked Sam what advice he would give to young coaches just breaking in. 

"I would tell them to realize you're really changing a whole lot of lives, you're touching a lot of lives," said Coach Harrell. "That's what it's all about. It's not about the wins and losses. That's the bad thing about football coaching. People in town or even coaches get hung up on wins and losses, how many you've had of those. When it's really about the lives you touch, and lives you get to see every day. And the influence you're going to be on those kids. So, make a positive influence on them and touch and change their lives, more than anything."

As those who know him best will tell you, he has touched, in a positive way, countless lives. Continuing to do so with this final team in Ennis. 

"I kind of look at Coach Harrell as a father figure," said senior offensive lineman Braylon Lambert. "He's been there, he's a warrior. All the stuff that he's going through. He never gave up. He gave it his all. And I look up to him as a hero. If I want to be like anyone, I want to be like him. A strong-hearted man." 

Now as this strong heated man prepares to coach what could well be his final game, what will Sam Harrell's legacy be?

"The consistency and the steadiness too, of leadership. That he's always been a rock to me personally, but I think, to this school and this community, they always knew Sam was down here in this office if they needed him for some leadership, some guidance. He's always been available for that. I think he's just been an unbelievable rock for this entire community," said Coach Marrow. 

And when Harrell takes the field for a final time, not entirely on his own terms, those who care about him most know it's just not fair. 

"Heartbreaking is the first word that comes to mind. We've been together since ‘94. He’s a great guy. He's done a lot for Ennis. To see him go out this way is not ideal, but he's taking it very well. It's going to be hard. It's heartbreaking," said Coach Willingham. 

Those emotions are easy to understand, but as Sam Harrell studies game film in his office, that's been his home away from home for all these years, he does so with a biblical reminder close by. Telling him to be strong, to be courageous, to be not afraid. Still, has he ever been tempted to ask, "Why me?"

"I go through that, but I also think, man, aren't I about the luckiest guy in the world?" said Coach Harrell. "So I have to remember the good times and not just think about the bad things. I do feel really lucky that I've got to coach for 40-something years, and got to coach a whole bunch of good kids, and coach with a bunch of good coaches. All that time has been really rewarding to me. There will be some sadness, I know. But as I said earlier, I hope bigger than that sadness will be the gratitude of what coaching has meant, and being in this community has meant, being at this school has meant to me and my family. So I hope there will be some happiness there too."