The quiet halls of the Kibbie Dome are packed with offices of coaches planning for the season ahead, outfitted in usual office décor –– awards, plants and photos of friends and family.
Seniors Kaden Ellis and Tony Lashley react to a play during practice in the Kibbie Dome April 9th.
Yet for defensive line coach Luther Elliss, his photos hold a little more significance.
Hanging on the walls behind his desk are action shots of rising senior linebacker Kaden Elliss, an Idaho athlete and his oldest son on the team.
In a kid’s early years in athletics, it is not unlikely their parent was one of their coaches in one sport or another. It is, however, very likely that by the time the athlete graduates to collegiate athletics the parents play no other role other than cheerleaders in the stands.
Not on the Idaho football team.
Many teams say they are ‘like family’ but the phrase carries different meaning for a number of coaches and athletes on the Idaho roster.
On a team led by 13 coaches, three of the coaches last name’s pop up elsewhere on the team roster. Many are aware of the blood connection between head coach Paul Petrino and Mason Petrino, but other familial ties on the team fly under the radar. Recently hired inside linebacker coach John Graham joins the team along with his son junior linebacker Ty Graham and defensive line coach Luther Elliss with his two sons Kaden and Christian Elliss.
Family plays a large role on the team, but the familial connection does not stay focused strictly on father-son relationships. While it could be easy to focus on his sons, Luther’s fatherly instincts are spread amongst the athletes on the team.
“I treat them all with respect and I love a lot of these guys like they are my own son too,” Luther said. “That is a privilege I have with coaching is being able to raise these young men to continue to grow and learn what it means to be a man.”
“Family” has evolved to be something of a cliché in the sports world –– every team striving for “family” chemistry. On the Idaho football team, that chemistry is not forced but rather develops naturally from the blood-ties already existing on the sidelines.
While it may not be the main goal in recruiting, Paul said the atmosphere created from having a lot of families on the team, the better the overall team chemistry.
“Nobody is going to try and work harder and be there for each other more than family,” Paul said.
Family and football
Any athlete competing at NCAA level knows the time and effort it takes to compete and win, but kids who have grown up around the people working to help athletes win may have a deeper understanding. After a the high of a big win or the blow of a rough loss, coaches and athletes work through the emotions and the coach’s kids are there to see it all.
Any child who has experienced ups and downs in the family knows pain that is so easily passed through the family when one is hurting. For coach’s children, that pain can come each and every week after a tough loss or a strenuous day on the field.
“They know how hard it hurts and a lot of people have no clue,” Paul said. “Tthey are always going to work a little bit harder and give a little bit more because they’ve been at that home sometimes after a tough loss and they know how hard it hurts so they are always going to give everything they can to make sure that that doesn’t happen.”
No one knows this better than Mason Petrino.
The schedule of a football coach is nothing short of chaotic –– from practice to travel to game time with little time budgeted in between for family.
“He wasn’t really there for my football games so I wanted to go to college and that was kind of the goal when we moved up here was to play for him,” Mason said. “Just to see him more.”
While football may be part of the day-to-day routine now, growing up sport was just another weekend family activity. In a football family, there is little time where football and sport is not part of the picture in some form or another. Where some father’s may take their sons fishing or camping for added family time, Paul said his time was spent coaching his kids.
“I am not a big hunter or fisherman or anything like that –– on the weekend we go practice sports,” Paul said. “That is kind of something I’ve done with him and his two sisters our whole lives. When he came on the team I guess the only difference is now I am actually his coach,” Paul said.
Titles may be more official and the schedules may be more concrete, but for many of the athletes with fathers on the staff, it is far from their first experience with their father in a coach role.
For Kaden and Christian, Luther has been their coach for years spanning far beyond Idaho.
Making the leap
When presented with the opportunity to coach his son’s, Luther said while it did not work out the first time Paul made him the offer, a year down the road the timing was right so he asked his sons. After receiving the stamp of approval, Luther made the jump to the Idaho coaching staff and joined his two sons.
“I coached them in high school and we went to two state championships, together as a family so they thought it would be something fun and to just have the family up here,” Luther said.
Many college students count down the days until they can leave home and find separation from family, but Kaden said he not only welcomed his dad joining his team but instead struggled to contain his excitement for the move.
“I was just excited, I was giddy,” Kaden said. “I couldn’t hold it in. I was supposed to keep it secret for like two or three months and I started telling people because that is so cool for me. I was just excited for the D-line to have another guy who had been in the NFL and just someone who would help a lot. It was just really cool.”
Kaden and Christian joined the Idaho program and were later accompanied by their father, but for Mason, the transition was one on his end rather than that of his fathers. In his years leading up to his collegiate career, Mason had more than just a program to choose –– he had a sport to pick as well. With options for soccer and football, Mason decided to focus on football and join his father’s program. Although Idaho was the only viable Sun Belt Conference offer, Mason said it was not the only team in the conference that sought him out.
“I was never going to do that, but it was nice to know people wanted me but I was never going to do that,” Mason said. “I was going to play for my dad from day one.”
Family on and off the field
Throughout collegiate programs across the country, father-son duos are not completely unheard of, yet for the Elliss’, the family ties do not stay between just two people but three.
Athletes in any support have a built-in network of support, from teammates to coaches to staff, but Kaden and Christian push and support each other in a way unmatched by any other teammate or staff member.
For Christian, Kaden is not only someone he looks to as a leader in his time at Idaho but all growing up as well.
Older brothers are often looked up to as leaders in the family, but leadership takes a different form when that older brother already holds a leadership role on the team.
“Kaden is the greatest leader I think that we have on this team,” Christian said. “He works hard, he plays hard and he always has a smile when he is playing so I just love playing with Kaden.”
Watching his older brother may be a motivating factor for Christian, but knowing his younger brother’s eyes on him keeps Kaden working harder to improve as well.
“If I’m not going hard, he is and he is going to look better than I am and I’m not going to let that happen. I know how great he can be and how amazing he can be and I don’t ever want him to take a day off, so if that’s the case then I take a day off I can’t exemplify that,” Kaden said. “I don’t put on a good show all the time, I mess up. I say it helps push me in that direction because I am trying to help push him in that direction. I think it is a very common goal we are heading toward and I think it helps us push each other.”
At the end of the day, Luther said the work his sons put in on and off the field means more than any award or statistic from before his son’s career.
“All the accolades and things you can earn yourself honestly fall, not even in comparison to what happens with your children and seeing them be successful, at whatever level that is. The biggest thing I get the greatest joy out of is seeing them give their best and whatever comes out of that they know that they have, again, no regrets,” Luther said. “That is to me, the epitome of looking at these pictures –– just seeing them making plays is an exciting thing.”
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]