Terry Ennis thought of Dick Armstrong as a friend, a mentor and a highly respected adversary.
Back when Ennis was the head football coach of the Cascade Bruins, his teams waged some memorable battles against Armstrong’s Snohomish Panthers in the late 1980s and early ’90s. According to Ennis, many of those clashes remain among the most vivid of his still-active 34-year head-coaching run. Also, Ennis’ father, former Everett High coach Jim Ennis, was a close friend of Armstrong’s.
But Terry Ennis said there’s something else that he’ll never forget about Armstrong, who in 1994 ended his 32-year coaching run at Snohomish and in 1999 died at the age of 69. It was a valuable suggestion – maybe more like a warning – that to this day fuels Ennis, currently Archbishop Murphy’s head coach.
“His advice,” Ennis said, “was ‘Don’t get out of coaching too soon.’”
According to Ennis, who resigned as Cascade’s football coach in 1999 before taking the Archbishop Murphy head job in 2000, Armstrong mulled an earlier retirement from coaching but stuck with it several more years. Said Ennis: “He was glad he didn’t get out too early.”
So is Ennis, who on Saturday will lead his 14-0 Archbishop Murphy Wildcats against Pullman (13-0) in the Class 2A state championship game at Tacoma Dome.
For Ennis, coaching is less about personal accolades than day-to-day interaction, gradual improvement and constant adjustments. Nonetheless, he’s piled up an astonishing record over the years. With Murphy’s 62-0 state quarterfinal win over Castle Rock on Nov. 19, Ennis tallied the 273rd victory of his career, moving him past Snohomish’s Armstrong (272) into second place on Washington’s all-time coaching wins list.
Murphy’s 14-13 semifinal triumph last Saturday over Cashmere lifted Ennis’ total to 274, leaving him just four behind Tumwater coach Sid Otton (278), who in September overtook Armstrong for the top spot.
“It’s nice,” Ennis said when told of his place on the hallowed list. “It’s certainly a tribute to a lot of assistant coaches and players, but it doesn’t mean as much as the next game.”
Ennis is honored but focused, and the latter quality has helped him take so many teams so far.
“He’s very conscious about (the philosophy of) one game at a time,” said Paul Lawrence, who coached the offensive line for Ennis’ Cascade teams and recently rejoined Ennis in a similar role at Murphy. “He probably feels great about the victories, but he’s not really thinking about it at this point. That’s the last thing on his mind.”
Lawrence, who played with Ennis on Everett High’s top-ranked football team in 1960, said Ennis’ leadership, adjustments and attention to detail set him apart. “He has a plan,” Lawrence said, “and he follows through with it.”
Asked what compels him to coach, Ennis said the constant hook is “when you see a team really have a focus and a (positive) result – that’s the best.
“They remember that forever.”
Together again: After enjoying a 10-year run as Everett’s head coach, Lawrence retired following last season. But he didn’t stay away from football for long. Last summer during a Fourth of July gathering, Ennis invited Lawrence to join the coaching staff at Murphy. Lawrence gladly accepted and has had a blast ever since.
“It’s been just a thrill to get back with (Ennis),” said Lawrence, who works with the Wildcats offensive linemen. “It’s been a real treat working with his coaching staff and his players.”
“We hit the ground running,” Lawrence said of his collaboration with Ennis. “We seem to have a pretty good feel for what the other guy is thinking.”
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