Ellender fires Terry Washington

The Ellender Memorial High School football team will have a new coach next fall.

Patriots coach Terry Washington confirmed to The Times this week that he will no longer be the school’s football coach or athletic director, a decision he said was given to him on Tuesday by principal Blaise Pellegrin via a letter.

In a prepared media statement, Pellegrin applauded Washington’s five-year run with the team, saying the coach did a “commendable job” and that his efforts were “greatly appreciated.” The principal said he wasn’t allowed to comment on the situation beyond the statement.

Washington said the principal’s words are lies. The 52-year-old former coach said Pellegrin, who was appointed principal last year, never supported Washington’s leadership. Washington said he coached the 2015 season knowing that it would likely be his last with the school.

The Patriots were 2-8 in 2015, but had just seven seniors. The team was 14-36 in Washington’s five seasons.

“I knew,” Washington said. “For the past year and a half when the new principal came in, I just didn’t feel like he was ever behind me. It was a hard working relationship, and it was hard to have the success they wanted – especially when you don’t have the resources or the right people behind you in administration.”

The bright spot of Washington’s tenure was the turnaround the team showed during his inaugural years.

When Washington took over Ellender in 2011, it was a program in disarray. The Patriots were mired in a lengthy losing streak on the field and the team had grown accustomed to being in the headlines for all of the wrong reasons.

Washington took over the team without an offseason to prepare – just weeks after coach Tim Betts was arrested and charged with sexual battery after he was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student at the school.

The sexual battery charge against Betts was later dropped. He later pled guilty to indecent behavior with the juvenile student and was sentenced to probation. 

In Washington’s first season, Ellender tanked and went winless.

“We just didn’t have enough time to build our program the way we wanted to,” the coach said.

But in 2012, the Patriots battled back, snapped its 32-game losing streak and won four games.

In 2013, the Patriots were even better. The team went 5-5 in the regular season and advanced to the Class 4A State Playoffs.

“I’m so proud of that,” Washington said. “To come here and start at ground zero and make the playoffs and win nine games combined in years two and three, that’s something that we really hang our hat on and take a lot of joy and pride in.”

In the past two seasons, Ellender struggled, posting a 3-7 mark in 2014 and a 2-8 season this fall.

Washington said the lack of on-field success was in part because of the team’s youth and also because of a lack of funding from Pellegrin and administration.

“We never had a sled,” he said. “We never had a lineman shoot. We never had any of the things that other teams had, and it was just clear that the writing was on the wall. As long as I was here, we weren’t going to get anything from up top.”

The Patriots had just seven seniors this past fall – easily making them one of the youngest teams in the Houma-Thibodaux area. Ellender won just two games, but was close in four of its losses, including a two-point loss at Assumption, which went 9-1 on the season.

The coach said he thinks Pellegrin grew too impatient and unrealistic in his expectations, touting that Houma has too many high schools for each to dominate year-in and year-out.

“We competed. We could have easily been 6-4, but instead we were 2-8. It happens,” Washington said. “When you have a young football team, you go through growing pains. We went through growing pains this year. Look, in 2012 and 2013, we were older, had more seniors and we had success. We made the playoffs.

“The new principal never understood that. They want instant success. Unless you’re John Curtis or some of those other big-name programs in the state, that won’t happen. Look at every program here locally – they all have lows. The past two years were just our lows. Next year, with the full squad back, we were going to make the playoffs again if I’d gotten another year.”

Patriots senior quarterback Curtis Anderson agreed with the coach, saying he believes Washington should have been given more time.

“He’s a good coach,” Anderson said. “He always was there anytime we needed anything. I don’t think he was doing a bad job.”

Pellegrin didn’t say in his release when the Patriots would begin its coaching search, but standard practice would indicate the team will hire someone by mid-spring so Washington’s replacement can coach the team throughout the offseason.

Washington said he, too, will be looking for work in the coming weeks, adding that he’s hopeful he can find a gig as either a head coach or assistant coach at another program.

That program, he said, will not be in Terrebonne Parish. The coach said he believes that it’s time to move on.

Washington said he has some feelers out and has heard from a few people, but added that he’s not in a rush and be patient.

“I did as much as I could do. I did the very best to my abilities,” Washington said. “I feel like the powers that be in this parish could have stepped in and avoided it getting to this point. But they hung me out to dry. That’s just how I feel. They hung me out to dry.” •