Editor's Note: This article updates and expands upon earlier coverage posted Tuesday.
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It was an emotional day for Phil Pitts. Emotional and exciting.
"There is no doubt how much I love Helias," Helias head football coach Phil Pitts said Tuesday after it was announced he was stepping down from the position to take a job at the collegiate level. "It means so much to me, this has been my home and will always be my home. This is a place where I have come nearly every day for the past 10 years.
"To walk out of the doors here is going to be an unbelievably emotional day for me."
Pitts played football at Helias before returning 10 years ago as an assistant coach. He has been the head coach for the past four seasons.
"I always thought I was the luckiest man to be the head coach at my alma mater, it was a dream come true," he said. "For most of my football career, this has been my football home."
Perhaps the most difficult part of the day Tuesday was telling the players.
"I told the kids how much I care about them and love them," Pitts said. "No matter what happens to them for the rest of their lives, I will only be a text or a phone call away."
Helping players through their formative years is one of the things Pitts is most proud of in his time at Helias.
"We want to develop future fathers and husbands and I think we've achieved that goal," he said. "That's more important than wins and losses."
Pitts is a math teacher at Helias. With his move to the collegiate level, his days as a teacher are done.
"There are so many kids that I've met only through the classroom, I am going to miss that," Pitts said. "I'm going to miss being in the classroom."
Pitts said what he has learned a lot about coaching during his time at Helias has been invaluable.
"The amount of things I have learned from successes and failures, from the coaches I have worked with, from the players, it is unbelievable," Pitts said.
The Crusaders were 40-15 and won four district titles under Pitts. He was the district coach of the year four times and the state coach of the year once.
Helias made Class 4 state championship game appearances in 2012 and 2013, falling in both. But Pitts said he has no regrets about not leading the Crusaders to a state title.
"Regrets are never a good thing to have," Pitts said. "Obviously we would have loved to have won a state championship, but the goal when I came back here to coach was to always have Helias being mentioned as a contender for the state championship, and I think we've gotten there."
Pitts believes the job he is leaving is one to be coveted.
"I know I'm biased, but I truly believe this is one of the top-10 jobs in the state of Missouri," Pitts said. "We have had great success over the past few years and it's in a great state. The program will continue to be successful because of the amazing players, the amazing parents and the support of the administration. This will be an outstanding place to be a head coach.
"I know Helias has a lot of coaches on staff who could fill the position and I know there will be interest outside of the school for it as well."
School officials said the search for a replacement will begin soon. Fr. Stephen Jones, Helias' president, thanked Pitts for his service.
"We are so very excited for coach Pitts and his family as they pursue this new opportunity, we are also sad to be losing such a valued member of our faculty and coaching staff," Jones said in a press release. "I know that Phil will be a successful coach at the next level, and we are grateful that he will always be a Crusader at heart. We wish coach Pitts, his wife Lindsey and their girls nothing but the best."
The decision to leave Helias was a family one, made along with his wife.
"She has made a lot of sacrifices through the years to let me realize this dream," Pitts said. "For her to do that, she is the backbone of our family."
Pitts did not want to say what collegiate position he will be taking.
The University of Missouri has a job posted for a defensive specialist. In the posting, the person taking the job will be responsible for assisting football coaches and staff with defensive team's video analysis, quality control and game preparation. The person hired for the position will also have duties in practice and game preparation.
"Every coach has an aspiration to advance their career to a level," Pitts said. "To get to move on to what is next, I'm excited."
The Missouri job will be posted through Friday, which is also the day Pitts is leaving Helias.
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