Female teacher has become crucial member of Colleyville Heritage’s football staff
College programs have the luxury of a Sports Information Director or a Director of Football Operations, someone who deals with public relations, media requests and provides stats, rosters and other notes.
In high school, those duties fall upon the coaching staff, most notably the head coach.
But at Colleyville Heritage, head coach Joe Willis may be starting a new trend.
Leslie Ferris has been around football most of her life. Her dad was a stadium announcer in Coahoma, a town over three hours west from Fort Worth.
She’s also been into coaching for the past 14 years, in flag bearing, color guard and cheerleading.
For the past six years, she has been a graphic design teacher at CHHS and handles the campus social media, which made her a good fit in Willis’ eyes when she took the job in the summer of 2018.
“We had the position before and that person left. Leslie made sense for the job,” Willis said. “She was working with the cheer booster club, plus she’s been around the game. She made a highlight video for us. She was the first one I approached. Then I went to administration and entertained the idea.”
Willis said some of Ferris’ responsibilities include printing out rosters for the press box during games, organizing any information for social media, travel arrangements and setting up district meals.
Ferris has been busy this week as Colleyville Heritage (8-4) continues its football season in the Class 5A Division 1 regional round against Birdville (9-3) at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Ford Center in Frisco.
Coach Ferris
The program has one fewer assistant coach on staff, which allows it to have the SID position.
But it’s like Ferris is one of the coaches.
“It was kind of a crazy request. We were at the lake when I got a call from coach Willis. He filled me on what his idea was and wanted to know if I’d be interested,” Ferris said. “I wanted to go back. I missed it. I missed being on the sideline.
“I took a year off from coaching and being around the kids, and it was hard. I missed having those connections. It’s a new frontier and definitely morphed into more than just paperwork. I’m integrated into the team now.”
Grapevine-Colleyville ISD’s Executive Director of Athletics Bryan Gerlich and CHHS principal Lance Groppel were on board with the idea as well.
“Leslie has done a phenomenal job, and it’s a testament to her,” Groppel said. “I know what Leslie is capable of, and it was a no-brainer when coach Willis presented the idea to me. Leslie works harder than anyone on the football staff, and she makes sure everyone is in the right place and taken care of.”
A week after Willis called Ferris about the position, Ferris was at work.
“I met with all the coaches and just hit the ground running from there,” Ferris said. “It started off behind the scenes, but after a while, it was apparent that I needed to be at all the practices and games. It was an adjustment period at first, having a girl around — the players would wonder why Ms. Ferris is here — but Willis would make it very clear that I was a part of the coaching staff, and the boys started to call me coach Ferris.
“It’s also great having a woman around the football players. A major focus we teach is not only making them into young men, but respecting women, and what better way than to be around them everyday.”
Helping the coaching staff
Most importantly, Ferris has taken a tremendous load off the coaching staff.
“She also does a great job promoting our campus and our football program,” Groppel said.
Added Willis, “She occupies the spot of an assistant coach on our staff, and everyone understands her value. She keeps the program organized. We’ll meet the first of the week to discuss how the week should go, and Leslie does a great job.”
Her workload may be to the ceiling, but Ferris loves it.
Her favorite is, one, social media and, two, talking football again with her dad.
“My dad was so excited when I took the job. We get to talk about football, and it’s a great way to stay connected with him,” Ferris said. “My favorite part is the social media. I love graphic design, and I’ll make them weekly. It gets the community excited for the games.”
The idea of having an SID or DFO at the high school level has peaked the interest of others.
“Yes, people will call us about the position,” Ferris said. “We were at the Tom Landry Classic, and they heard about it and loved it. They messaged me right away because some other schools were asking questions.
“Best thing about this position is it truly lets the coaches coach. There are so many little things I do that now it doesn’t take the coaches away from coaching. There are so many benefits to it.”
