Royal Oak has their new Football Coach.

Written Thursday February 17th at 9:00 PM

The Ravens went with in with their new varsity football coach.

Royal Oak hired Dustyn Truitt as their new football coach. He replaces Ray McMann whom stepped down last month.

Truitt teaches Physical Education at Royal Oak Middle School and also coached their football program. He has coaching experience at Farmington and at Livonia Clarenceville.

"I'm honored to be the head football coach at Royal Oak. I'm excited to lead a community and a school district that has such a passion for football. I'm fortunate for the opportunity and I can't wait to get to work" Truitt said in a press release.

Truitt takes over a program that went 2-7 last season and is 9-24 since 2017.

The Ravens believe that Truitt is the guy to turn things around.

"We are extremely excited about the new addition of Coach Dustyn Truitt to our Raven family. As an educator in our district he brings an enormous amount of energy and experience where he truly understands how impactful educational athletics is to school culture. Coach Truitt is a person of high integrity where he puts the needs of all of our students in the Royal Oak community first. He is a great addition to our athletic staff and we look forward to working with him in every capacity" said interim athletic director Brian Gordon.

Truitt will have some questions heading into the season with his new program. Program strength is a major concern coming into the season. What should help Truitt is that he has quarterback Hudson Siddle and running back Mekhi Jenkins along with linemen Ellie Finch and Jordan Wood coming back.

He will also have major challenges in the Gold this season with arch rivals Berkley and Ferndale along with Pontiac and Avondale. Royal Oak opens the season on the road at Holly where they will take on former Troy Athens and Berkley coach Billy Keenest. They close the season at Madison Heights Lamphere and also have Troy Athens, Troy, and Farmington as their non league on the schedule.

Truitt knows there are major challenges ahead for him and his new program. "We are going to work endlessly to build a program that makes our students, facility, and community proud, a team of highly character individuals who are enthusiastic about the game of football and visible leaders within our school community" Truitt concluded.

Thoughts

This is a very interesting hire for a few reasons. In reading the press release, Truitt knows the players especially those in the lower levels coaching at Royal Oak Middle School. He says the right words but making the community proud usually means producing results. Royal Oak has had a ton of struggles on the field (9-24 since 2017.) The Ravens have a ton of things when it comes to program strength and depth.

It will be very interesting to see how Truitt and the players adjust to each other. There will be a transition period. Truitt has a lot of work ahead of him with the program.

Stay tuned to OAA Now for the latest on this developing story.

Here is the Press Release.

https://www.royaloakschools.org/downloads/rohs/head_fb_coach_press_release.pdf