It's official: Polites is leaving

I just got off the phone with Jeff Polites, and he has decided to step down as head coach of the Elizabethtown Area High School football program. I wanted to get this post up ASAP for you, so here is a transcript of the interview I just did with Jeff. I'll do more of a "story" later and in next week's print edition of the Chronicle. But for now, here's the transcript:

On why he decided to submit his letter of resignation:
"I've been thinking about it for the last couple of years and I'm just to the point now where I'm ready for a change. The hard part is when you make that change and you're so close to the kids and the parents, you want to stick around for them because you care about them and you want to see them through."

On his relationship with his assistant coaches:
"Of the lists of negatives and the lists of positives, the coaching staff was a top positive. It's rare that you have a group of guys like we have here. We're all friends and we do stuff outside of football. And it's not just one or two of us, it's everybody. They're like brothers and they're good friends. It's tough. Real tough."

On what it was like to tell the players of his decision:
"It was quick. It was emotional for me and it was tough to look at them. They were surprised. You spend so much time with those kids, it's like they're your own kids."

On some of the things that stand out over his tenure:
"The advice I got when I first started coached is in five or seven years, that's when you want to start looking around. And through my career I looked around a little bit, but over the last five years, I haven't looked anywhere because we really had some good things going here."

"This was my first head coaching job. They took a chance on me, and I didn't have any experience as a head coach. I worked under two coaches at Middletown and they were great guys and taught me how to get a quality football program going, how to treat people and to be an example for young me."

"The kids my first year, they were real special. they were the ones that turned things around. Every year after that, our records were all over the place, and all those teams had some great kids on it. you just go through your mind with some of the names and the things they're doing now as adults is impressive."

On his future plans:
"I love teaching here. The kids are excellent. The administration is fantastic to work for and the staff is great to work with. I just want to wait and see what's out there and see what happens. I could teach here forever if they'll let me."

On the program at the younger levels:
"The Boys Club has done a nice job the last couple of years doing the things that we've taught and that's going to benefit the program. The junior highs, Coach Livingston is an excellent teacher. It's a real nice staff for someone to come into and work hard."

That's all for now. Polites was E-town's head coach since 1998, 11 seasons. He had a career record of 57-56 and led the team to the District Three playoffs the last two seasons. This year, the Bears went 6-5 and lost in the first round of the Quad-A playoffs to eventual district champ Wilson.

Last year will probably be remembered as Polites' most successful. E-town started 9-0, shared the Section Two title and won a district triple-A playoff game before falling to L-S in the second round.

On a personal note, I think this is a big loss for the program. Jeff was a great coach and is an even better person. He treats everyone (players, parents, managers, coaches, even media schlubs like me) with respect and has always been extremely gracious when it comes to giving interviews, even after tough losses. He has built a very good program at E-town, and hopefully that can continue.

And now the search begins for a new head coach. I'll try and keep you updated on that as I get news on it.