Date Posted:10:31:06 08/06/03 Wed Author: Starter Subject: Bo Ellis lets out on CSU job
Mission impossible
Ellis was a standout at Parker High School, now Robeson, before enrolling at Marquette, and he recruited the Chicago area as a Marquette assistant under Bob Dukiet, Kevin O'Neill and Mike Deane. He took the Chicago State job in the belief his Chicago connections would help him transform one of the most downtrodden programs in Division I basketball, but it hadn't happened after 4½ years and he was let go with a 23-104 record. O'Neill said the record is no reflection on Ellis' coaching ability.
"Michael the Archangel couldn't have won at Chicago State—it's just a bad job and not a very good indicator for head coach," he said. "But Bo is one of the rare guys who can go back and forth as an assistant. You have to enjoy basketball as a passion to do that, which Bo does. His impact will be strong."
Ellis said he was handcuffed by a lack of resources. "When I first came to Chicago State my wife used to tell me, 'This is not you.' She knew I truly wanted to come to Chicago and build this thing, and I truly felt there was tons of potential.
"They had me excited by what they said they were going to put into it. But the university was so much in the red they couldn't afford to put it into the basketball program and we could see it wasn't going to happen. They haven't started breaking ground on the building they promised would be up in my fourth year."
Shortly before he died in February 2001, McGuire sent Ellis a letter encouraging him to stay the course at Chicago State, to work hard and to remember that no matter what happened, "just keep teaching and guiding the young men," Ellis said. He still has the letter.
Chicago State AD Al Avant calls Ellis "a first-class, fine person," but said he dismissed him because "I just didn't think the program was going in the right direction.
"No one ever promised him a new arena when he came here," Avant said. "We had a new arena in mind, and we're supposed to get one now in two or three years. But he knew exactly what the facility was when he came here. He felt that with his name and contacts in Chicago, he would be able to recruit Chicago kids. That's what his downfall was. He just didn't have the players."
