Former MU athletes give back as high school coaches

36 | www.columbiatribune.com | OUR TOWN 2020

Tolton head football coach Michael Egnew, a former All-American tight end at MU, instructs players in a drill during practice last year. [BRIAR NAPIER/ TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO]

Former MU athletes give back as high school coaches

BY ERIC BLUM Columbia Daily Tribune

The city of Columbia’s identity wouldn’t be the same without the University of Missouri — and vice versa.

The relationship, particularly within athletics, extends well beyond campus. There are several examples of former MU student-athletes staying in the town where they once starred in their

respective collegiate sports. Now, they’re passing their knowledge to the next generation of Mid-Missouri athletes.

There are a number of Tigersturned-coaches within Columbia high schools, such as Tolton’s Michael Egnew, Rock Bridge’s Lisa Alvis (Simmons), Hickman’s Morgan Scott (Eye) and Battle’s Atiyyah Ellison.

“Me being a representative of Mizzou in all the things that I do, they changed me, they changed the person I was coming in,” said Ellison, a former All-Big 12 defensive lineman, earlier this year. “So you carry some pride being a couple miles from where you learned so many good lessons.

“You want to instill those into the next generation coming up.”

Alongside being Tolton’s head football coach, Egnew has been the coowner of API Project Fitness, a gym on East Nifong Boulevard in Columbia.

Egnew co-owns the gym with fellow MU football alumnus Jerrell Jackson, who

OUR TOWN 2020 | www.columbiatribune.com | 37

has been an offensive assistant with the Trailblazers each of the past two seasons.

Over the past few years, studentathletes from Missouri, Columbia Public Schools and Tolton have trained at the gym.

“Besides what they do on the field, it’s how they approach their work ethic. Their grind determines how successful you are on the field,” Jackson said in 2018. “There’s a few reasons why I made it to the NFL. For one, no one outworked me. For two, I was one of the smartest people on the field. For three, I just had the skill set.

“If I can give a kid the mentality, give a kid the skill set — that gives them a better opportunity to reach it. I played the game, now I want to give the game, and that’s the same thing I can do out here.”

Entering his second year heading the Tolton football program, Egnew has a greater understanding of the position and his players, who represent what originally drew him to be a head coach in the community where he was an All-American tight end for MU.

“The kids, they’re godly, and like a lot of schools, these kids are really good kids and it just makes for a positive environment to be around,” Egnew said last year. “It’s where you want to coach, honestly. You want a place like this where you’re not necessarily worried about all the little things. The kids are responsible, respectful. It’s just very attractive to me.”

After being signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars, former Tigers offensive lineman Tre’Vour Wallace-Simms worked out at API.

Jackson recently posted a photo on Instagram with Missouri men’s basketball standout Jeremiah Tilmon after an API workout.

“We train elite athletes all the way from 6 (years old) to the pro level,” Jackson said in 2018. “We also do adult training, personal training, partner training — whatever we can do to enhance a person’s physical aspect of their life.” Before taking over Rock Bridge’s softball program, Alvis spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Battle. Alvis also coached the Missouri Stealth softball club team from 2015-18, a run

that included the USSSA Midwest 18A national championship in 2018.

In her first season guiding the Bruins, Alvis, a former MU softball standout, led Rock Bridge to its first district championship since 2010 and its programbest season with a third-place finish in the state’s highest classification.

“Before I had Lachlen, I kind of thought about my athletes as my kids, my children, and taking care of them,” Alvis said of her son in 2019, during her first year of motherhood. “... Each of these athletes is somebody else’s child. So how would I want someone to treat Lachlen? I’ve always been conscious of that, but I think I’m a little bit more aware ... and giving them the care that I would want my child to receive is always in the back of my head.

“... If nobody learns any softball skill from me at all, at the end of the day, I’d hope my kids know that I care about them outside of sport.”

eblum@columbiatribune.com