Willis Tullos said the decision wasn’t difficult.

After his wife got a job in Washington, D.C., and the physical demands of 16-hour days became a real strain, the 75-year old opted to retire from coaching after 48 years and move to the nation’s capital. 

“It does feel strange because there’s definitely not a next year, so there’s nothing more final than final. My players don’t like it, but they understand it, and the people in the area, other coaches that I’ve shared that information with, they understand,” Tullos said. “There’s nothing more important than your family. My family’s in Washington, D.C., and I’m going to go be with them.”

Tullos’ final game came Tuesday when his Philadelphia boys basketball team fell to Potts Camp in the MHSAA Class 2A semifinals at the Mississippi Coliseum. The loss finished off a near-five decade tenure which included a 16-year career as a football coach and several stints in baseball, softball, cross-country and track and field. Of his 48 years in coaching, 34 were spent as a head coach.

Tullos most notably led Choctaw Central to three state championships in basketball in the-mid-to late 1990s, and also guided Philadelphia to two-straight 20-win seasons the past two years. He said the loads of players he’s gotten to coach over the years has been the most rewarding. 

“The majority of the highlights of my career have been the children that I’ve been able to coach. I have coached some wonderful children,” he said. “I enjoyed watching them grow, I enjoyed watching them mature, I enjoyed watching them accomplish things they didn’t know they could accomplish. I’ll miss that a lot.”

Tullos added that 34 players under his tutelage continued their athletic careers at higher institutions, ranging from community colleges to Division I schools.   

“I think that’s a big accomplishment, but that wasn’t because of me. That’s because of them,” he said. “They took me along for the ride, and I’ve had a great ride.”

Tullos said the most satisfying part of his retirement is getting to end his career at Philadelphia, the school from which he graduated almost 60 years ago.

“To come back and be able to finish my coaching career where I started at the school, it’s a great thing for me,” he said. “It finished everything up for me. Made the circle complete.”