Travis Wray overcomes major obstacles to return as Eastern Greene's head football coach

What would it take to bring Travis Wray back to Eastern Greene?

After all, he wanted to stay after the 2018 season, his only one as head coach, but the school board, as comprised then, had other ideas and voted not to renew his contract.

He moved on to Evansville North, returning to the position of defensive coordinator he had under former T-Bird head coach Joey Paridaen, the man he succeeded at Eastern.

Life had thrown a few more monkey wrenches his way. After finding a way to get his epileptic seizures under control during his days at Bloomington North, another major health scare, cancer, cropped up during the 2020 season.

More: T-Bird assistant Wray wired 'a little different'

More: Eastern Greene bringing back AD Buskirk for 2019-20

As a result, he spent most of the last season up in the press box, guiding his players from above instead of down on the field with them, leaping excitedly as he had always done after big moments.

His growing family with two children had just moved into a house they'd purchased in July. He was really starting to settle into Evansville.

"We're definitely happy to have Travis back," said Eastern Greene athletic director Aaron Buskirk, who was nearly let go at the same time Wray was. "He brings a lot of energy and he knows his stuff about defense. He's a great guy around kids. Kids love him.

"And he loves football. He loves coaching football a lot."

Taking a second chance

Roy Bruce stepped down as head coach this fall after a tough three-year run of 1-9 seasons. Wray heard about it. Yeah, he still wanted another chance at being a head coach, but naturally, had reservations about applying.

Calls of support from Greene County and others had him changing his mind.

He asked Buskirk if he had a chance.

"I've never lost the itch (to be a head coach)," Wray said. "After the '18 season, when I was head coach, we had success here at North. Joey and I always had a great relationship.

"And it was one of those positions, when it came open, some people reached out to me and said, 'You might want to think about this. I talked to my wife and some coaching friends."

It had been a rough year or so and coming back closer to home, both he and his wife Audrey are Bloomington South grads, starting making more sense.

Wray cut his coaching teeth for several years at Bloomington North under Scott Bless. That's where his '16 campaign was cut short when he started to suffer from epileptic seizures.

Facing mortality

He was wasn't sure if he'd be able to coach again, but ended up at Eastern, then Evansville North. During the 2020 season, he started to feel a sharp pain in his groin area.

It was a cancerous mass and was spreading into his lymph nodes. Surgery and chemotherapy followed, which left him completely drained. The old hop-around Wray just wasn't the same last season.

He tried to work from the sideline but soon gave that up. Sunday morning, he was wiped out. Wray is nine months in remission.

"I was going through chemo last year at this time," Wray said. "And we had some other family things happen, where you think, you might want to be closer to family."

On Jan. 30, tragedy stuck when his brother Dennis, who lived in Bedford, passed away from an an aneurism. He was a starter at linebacker for the Panthers' 2001 sectional champs his senior year.

Travis' sons are 2 and 6. His wife and her family are also from Bloomington.

"That was a big draw," Wray said. "And we have a love for that community."

Ready for a do-over

Eastern is ready to get back to what it had going from 2014-18 and Wray is ready to do his darnedest to bring the spirit of those days back, if not some of the architects.

"He's the only coach we've ever had who had a winning record in his first season," Buskirk said. "I've heard nothing but good things about him coming back.

"Some people showed up at the schoolboard meeting, who had older kids on his teams and had more kids coming up."

His hiring for now is only as head football coach, but Wray said he will be in the school building in some capacity this fall. Don't be surprised if the staff he puts together includes the venerable Danny Tieken. They've been working together for a while now.

More: Plenty of Joey Paridaen's assistants bring head coaching experience to North sidelines

But he will be tackling a new group of players he knows only from his contact with them in the classroom. The sophomores were fifth graders when he last taught them.

He plans to be in the high school and middle school next Monday looking for players to add to his roster. Fewer than 40 players were out last year, a majority of them freshmen and sophomores. Part of him agrees its a rebuild. Part of him doesn't.

He's only been a coach for two teams that finished under .500. He's not about to add to that figure now.

"I feel good about the staff we have coming together," he said. "I want to build some excitement."

His familiarity with them will help with that.

"A lot of people have already welcomed me back," Wray said. "That's been humbling and it's made me feel even more that this is the right move.

"It's bittersweet, because I've grown to love Evansville and working with my best friends down there. Ultimately, family is what it came down to."

And Eastern was able to look back while looking forward.

"I like that idea, a fresh start," Wray said. "That's what this is."

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Here's why Travis Wray is back as Eastern Greene's head football coach