Joe Yost brought together his football team Friday morning inside the Ellet High School gymnasium to make an announcement.
After 38 seasons, Yost decided it was time to retire as football coach.
“I’ve coached for 38 years and it just felt like this was the time to hang it up,” Yost said. “It has been difficult for me, but I felt that this was the right time.”
Yost compiled a record of 234-152-2 from 1979-2016, and led Ellet to playoff appearances in Division I in 1991 and in Division II in 2012 and 2013.
Yost is in his second year of retirement from teaching physical education and health. He taught for 36 years at Ellet and for three years at Hyre Middle School.
Under Yost’s watch, Ellet won outright City Series football championships in 2012 and 2013, and shared league titles in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2006 and 2016. He guided the Orangemen to 23 winning seasons and six .500 seasons, is the only coach in City Series history to amass over 200 victories and his resume includes Coach of the Year honors in the City Series and in the Northeast Ohio Inland District. The Beacon Journal selected Yost for the Clem Caraboolad Coach of the Year honor in 2005.
Yost guided Ellet to a 10-0 regular season in 2013 before losing to Perrysburg in the first round of the playoffs.
Akron Public Schools Athletic Director Joe Vassalotti said Yost met with Ellet Principal Michelle Marquess-Kearns on Thursday, and then his players on Friday.
“We coached against each other, first when I was an assistant at Kent Roosevelt in the early ‘90s, and then when I was head coach at Tallmadge we played 12 seasons in a row from 2003-2014,” Vassalotti said. “He coaches for character, which I believe all high school coaches should do.
“Joe is competitive and wanted to win. His players fought to win, but it was obvious he prioritized the sportsmanship of his players and the life lessons they learned through football as an even greater goal than winning.”
Vassalotti said he has enjoyed watching Yost “interact with his players and staff beyond just game-night” in his current position as APS athletic director.
“I have gotten a chance to watch coach Yost interact with his players during the summer, at practice in season, in the weight room and even caught glimpses of him at halftime [of games],” Vassalotti said. “For me, these opportunities have solidified my perception that I had earlier of him, which is that he is ultimately about the development of his players as people … He is the ideal football coach.”
Yost is widowed following the passing of his wife, Pat, last year.
Prior to being Ellet’s head football coach, Yost, who wouldn’t rule out returning as an assistant coach in the future, spent seven seasons as an assistant to former Ellet coach Bill McLain from 1971-1975 and 1977-1978, and one season as a volunteer assistant to former University of Akron coach Jim Dennison in 1976. Yost coached the Ellet junior varsity team and varsity wide receivers, linemen and linebackers as an assistant; and was the defensive coordinator in 1975, 1977 and 1978. With Dennison, he worked as an outside linebacker coach for the Zips.
Ellet’s 1991 playoff team lost to Massillon and its 2012 playoff team fell to Kent Roosevelt.
Yost is a 1971 graduate of Ellet who earned three letters in football and one in wrestling. He played middle linebacker for McLain and was a senior captain. Yost later earned a bachelor’s degree in 1976 and a master’s degree in 1984 from UA.
“I went to Garfield and we were in the same boat as far as the structure and the community,” Ellet Athletic Director Melissa Blondheim said. “At Garfield, it was [Babe] Flossie and it was [Bill] McGee [for decades]. When I came here to Ellet, he had already been the coach for a number of years. He is a part of what this building is. In my opinion, he is a part of this building no matter whether he is teaching or not. It is hard because you see that tradition, that love and that caring for the kids that he has.”
“He was able to change and adjust with the kids as times changed and still be such a strong and influential man in their lives. … He wants what’s best for kids. As tough as he may seem, he truly is just a caring and generous man.”
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the #ABJVarsity high school blog at www.ohio.com/preps. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.