Ben Kullos, the new coach of the Raymond S. Kellis football team, has a long road ahead of him to turn the Cougars' fortunes around.
Kullos, most recently a defensive coordinator for Mountain Ridge who was part of the program's recent rebuild, took over Kellis in late March. His task will be to return the Cougars, who have won just one total game in three seasons, to a contender in the West Valley. He met with his new players after his announcement was made public.
His message was that he could relate to them.
“I told them, ‘I know what you’re going through. I was the defensive coordinator for an 0-10 football team, where maybe you’re sitting there thinking success is unattainable,’ and then hopefully we’ll show them that it’s not," Kullos said.
Though he has never been part of the Cougar program, Kullos' ties to Kellis go back to his own playing days. He played football for the Liberty Lions, a fellow Peoria Unified School District school. And even his college days, playing for Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota, remind him of Kellis' current outlook. That is what gives him hope.
Whereas winning was a tradition at perennial-powerhouse Liberty, victories at the college level came at a premium. The Dakota State Trojans won just a handful of games each year prior to Kullos' class enrolling. His teammates underwent a culture shift, and the Trojans put together two back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in decades.
“I understood what it took at that point, what the rebuilding process was like. And I saw a lot of that with Mountain Ridge originally and then now I see it at Kellis," Kullos said.
The decision to take over as the leader for Kellis was not taken lightly either. After a short term as the interim coach for Mountain Ridge before the school hired Doug Madoski ahead of the 2019 season, Kullos got the itch to become a head coach. He waited a year before attempting the move to a head coaching spot, though. He did not feel ready to take over a program yet, especially in a season made uncertain due to COVID-19 restrictions.
After learning from the staff at Mountain Ridge, and finding what he felt was the right school and team for him, Kullos said he is ready to get started.
"We're going to attack the weight room and then try to give them the most normal offseason as possible with camp and seven-on-sevens and all that. And I'm excited to infuse my way of doing things and see what success we can have," Kullos said.
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