Pat Kelley has never had a taste for the transient nature of coaching.
Establishing and cultivating a program meant loyalty and longevity for Kelley, who marked his 20th year as head football coach of the Fulton Hornets this past season. Kelley will now pass that opportunity on to the next leader of the Hornets after he announced his retirement this past week.
"I'm old school - I was coached by a coach who was there for almost 30 years," Kelley said Friday afternoon. "You look at where high school football was when I started 30 years ago, and coaches did that. Coaches didn't leave.
"I think a lot of it goes back to where society is with wins and losses. Everybody wants to chase talent. There are the fortunate few of the Webb Cities and the Centralias, and Blair Oaks is just a machine but that's not the majority. The majority of us go through cycles."
Kelley's last game with Fulton was a season-ending 42-6 loss at Blair Oaks in the Class 3, District 6 semifinals Oct. 28, the Hornets finishing with a 5-6 record. Kelley compiled a 91-122 overall record with Fulton, steering the Hornets to six district championships and two appearances in the state quarterfinals.
"As I look at the younger coaches who are someplace for two or three years, and they leave on their own accord but that's not fair to anybody," Kelley said. "You don't build a program."
Like it would for anyone with a competitive nature, losing had a taxing impact on Kelley.
"Losing bothers me more than the winning excites me," he said. "(Former Fulton athletic director and coach) Darrell Davis - a near and dear friend, one of the guys who hired me 20 years ago to be the head coach - we always joked about staying one step ahead of the posse.
"In the last four or five years, that seemed to have been harder and harder. Finally, you get to a point that you don't want to run anymore. After 20 years, there's a lot of battles that you're just tired of fighting."
Kelley will continue as a credit recovery teacher at the high school. He is also an assistant wrestling coach and coaches boys' golf in the spring.
Kelley was appreciative of the backing he received during his tenure with the Hornets.
"I've been blessed to be in Fulton for 20 years," Kelley said. "The parental support has been overwhelming and the administration at the high school in the last 20 years has been phenomenal."
Kelley noted that informing his players of his decision to retire was difficult.
"This thing (football program) becomes a part of your family," he said. "Our schedules revolved around it for 20 years - I sacrificed for my family, I sacrificed for football."
Kelley treasures the relationships he nurtured with his players and their families. He recently received a collage of pictures from his assistant coaches that chronicled his career with the Hornets and included a list of former players that featured "10- to 15-plus" sets of brothers who Kelley coached.
Kelley was also at that stage deep into his career where he was coaching the sons of former players.
"That's a great feeling," he said.
Kelley took particular pride in the fact that five of his former players have served as assistants under him.
"That is very special, to be able to have that kind of influence that they wanted to do that," he said.
Kelley also singled out two constant fixtures on his coaching staff - defensive coordinator John DeFily and offensive coordinator Darren Masek. DeFily has spent all 20 years serving under Kelley, while Masek has been there for all but two of those seasons.
"They're great friends, great colleagues - great coaches," Kelley said.
Kelley is not ruling out the possibility of coaching football again at some point.
"I can't believe that I'm done with it," Kelley said. "What that means, I don't know. This (retirement) is still pretty fresh to me. I still love the game, but right now I have to step back."