These days, news can spread quickly.
With texts, Twitter, Facebook and Internet message boards, it doesn't take long to reach a lot of people.
So when word spread Tuesday morning Phil Pitts was leaving as Helias' head football coach to accept a job at the collegiate level, a lot of those people reached out to him.
"It was a cool outpouring of people expressing what I meant to them, and it was really humbling," said Pitts, who will be the defensive analyst at the University of Missouri. "It made me feel good about what I've done in the years I've been here."
Pitts said he heard from parents, former players and people in the community congratulating him and telling him what he meant to them or their families during his 10 years of coaching at Helias.
"When you get to hear from people that you may have molded in some way, I was so thankful," he said.
He also heard from many of his fellow high-school coaches, including John Roderique of Webb City and Tony Severino of Rockhurst.
"It was nice to see that guys like that respect me and respect our program enough to reach out to me when they heard," Pitts said. "I've got a lot of really good friends in this business."
III
THE POSSIBLITY OF joining the staff at Missouri, Pitts' alma mater, first came up in late December.
Dave Steckel had stepped down as Missouri's defensive coordinator earlier in the month to accept the head coaching position at Missouri State. Barry Odom, a former Missouri player and coach who was the defensive coordinator at Memphis, was a favorite to return to Columbia and when that was made official, the wheels began to turn.
"I started to know there was a possibility of this happening," Pitts said. "Coach Odom is not only a good friend, but he's a mentor who has taught me a lot."
Pitts had expressed the desire to move to coaching at the college level.
"I had spoken a lot with coach Odom and coach (Gary) Pinkel, and they knew the interest was there," Pitts said.
There was interest. And not just from Missouri.
"There were a couple of other things out there, a couple of other colleges who had approached me," Pitts said. "But ultimately, the best offer was at Missouri."
As a defensive analyst, Pitts' main responsibility will be video work for his fellow defensive coaches.
"I'll be breaking down opponents, making sure we know what we want to do as we head into the next week," he said. "I've always enjoyed doing things like that."
Pitts will also self-scout the Tigers, meaning he will look at Missouri like an opponent would, looking for tendencies and weaknesses. Pitts will assist Odom with his position duties on the defense. Missouri currently has openings for coaches at linebacker and safeties and will fill one of those spots, with Odom taking the other.
"I will be helping coach Odom and the rest of the staff to make sure we are getting done what we need to do to be successful," Pitts said.
In addition to Odom, Pitts is familiar with several coaches on the Missouri staff. He played under Pinkel, while defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski and cornerbacks coach Cornell Ford remain on the staff from his playing days. Pitts also played at the same time as A.J. Ricker, who will be entering his second season as the offensive line coach.
"It's a great opportunity to work with these coaches that I know and respect so much," Pitts said.
Pitts' first day at Missouri will be Feb. 2.
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PITTS' LAST DAY at Helias was Friday.
That afternoon, Helias' undefeated state championship volleyball team was honored by MaxPreps on its Tour of Champions at an assembly.
Then Helias activities director Brad Dempsey called on Pitts to speak to the students.
It was emotional for a lot of people in Rackers Fieldhouse.
"Not just for the football players, it was a lot of students because he had an impact on an awful lot of kids," Dempsey said. "We're not just losing a football coach, we're losing someone who had a great impact at our school every day because he let them know he cared about them.
"We're extremely excited for coach Pitts," Dempsey added. "It's just a little sad because we're losing a friend."
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