TAMPA, Fla. – Elijah Brooks was 27 years old when he took over for the man who was his coach at DeMatha Catholic, Bill McGregor. He thought his high school football head coaching future would last far longer than the eight seasons it did.
“I wanted to follow in the steps of Morgan Wootten and Bill McGregor and be a high school coach my whole life,” said Brooks, also referring to his Hall of Fame basketball coach who won more than 1,200 games and coached 13 future NBA players in 46 years at DeMatha. “God had a different plan. Let’s give it a shot in college, and I have enjoyed the journey.”
The journey has led to Brooks to USF where he coaches running backs on Brian Hartline’s staff. The former William & Mary running back left DeMatha, which is in Hyattsville, Md. and less than 10 miles outside the nation’s capital, in 2019 after compiling a 72-20 mark that included four straight Washington Catholic Association Conference titles. He spent the next four seasons at Maryland coaching running backs under Mike Locksley before moved to Virginia Tech where he spent three seasons in the same role on Brent Pry’s staff.
The dots that connected Brooks to USF ran through former Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen, who was the running backs coach the past three seasons on Ryan Day’s staff at Ohio State. Hartline was the offensive coordinator.
While Brooks has the highest of praise for Wootten and McGregor – “as a player and as a student, those two were probably the best teachers I ever had” – he is very impressed by the direction Hartline is taking the USF program.
“The number one thing that comes across is that he’s extremely passionate,” said Brooks, of Hartline. “He’s maniacal about success and he forces the staff to follow him. He teaches us, and he’s extremely detailed. I am really excited to be able to coach with a guy like him.
He is the definition of a leader of men.”
Brooks coached a handful of future NFL players while at DeMatha. Among them were defensive end Chase Young, the second overall selection in the 2020 draft by Washington and who had 10 sacks for New Orleans last season. Also, Commanders’ safety Nick Cross, who started all 34 games for the Colts the past two seasons.
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“I didn’t have the opportunity to play in the NFL, but I had a chance to coach and mentor guys who moved on,” said Brooks, who rushed for 2,536 yards and 22 touchdowns in three seasons (2004-06) at William & Mary.
He mentored many more players at DeMatha and continues to do so as a college coach. It all comes back to Wootten and McGregor, who ironically replaced Brooks for a second stint at the school and remains on the Stags’ sideline.
“I was able to take something from both of their styles and have applied it throughout my career,” he said. “Those two were probably the best teachers that I ever had and influenced me the most. (Wootten) never cursed. He rarely raised his voice, but he could get guys 5-foot-7 to 6-foot-10 to run through a wall. So, that was something that I wanted to be, a fantastic teacher. I think once you learn how to teach and teach different guys with different ability levels, the sky is the limit.”
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