Royal Oak Promotes Offensive Coordinator Ryan Irish To Head Coach

A little over a year ago Ryan Irish was a finalist for the football head coaching position at

He lost out on the job, and according to him deservedly so, to a candidate that was a perfect fit.

“I usually don’t like to finish in second, but in this case I lost out to someone who was the absolute right hire for Royal Oak,” Irish said in a recent phone interview. “His family lived in Royal Oak, he went to high school there; he was a Royal Oak guy.”

That guy was of course , who had to in January after just one year when he and his family learned their eight-week old daughter

News of the resignation stunned the community; who believed Hill on his way to turning around a that lost 28 games in a row over a three-year span.

In April, the school announced Irish, the offensive coordinator on Hill’s staff last season, as its third coach in as many years.

“Jeff should be the head coach,” Irish said. “I respect Jeff a lot, and he signed up for a difficult task (of rebuilding this program) when not everybody was up for it. We went into this thing at the ground level.”

After losing out on the coaching job at Royal Oak, Irish was set to become the coach at Waterford Mott. He accepted the position, but it fell through. Hill, having met Irish during Royal Oak’s hiring process, reached out and offered him a position on the Ravens’ staff.

“The relationship was there and (at the time) it was a friendship in progress,” Irish said.

They quickly developed a bond and shared a lot of the same philosophies about coaching.

“Jeff and I believe the same thing, we both believe the importance of high school football,” Irish said. “Football builds character and that’s how we approach it. Step one, is developing players as young men and football teaches that.”

Now, Irish will continue the Ravens’ rebuilding process without his friend and colleague, but their friendship will be important to both men on, and off, the field. 

“I know first hand what he’s going through,” Irish said. “During my first year as coach at Livonia Clarenceville in 2005, our first daughter Grace was diagnosed with the leaukima.”

Irish looks to Hill for advice on football and the community while trying to give counsel on what it’s like having a sick daughter and going through the long recovery process. They talk three to four times a week.

“I try to tell Jeff to take it day-by-day,” Irish said. “All of us should take full advantage of every minute, never take anything for granted.”

There have been setbacks along the way, but today Grace is doing great.

Irish hopes he can keep giving similar positive updates about Hill’s daughter to Ravens’ players. Promoting Irish to head coach has given Royal Oak students who were close with Hill last season some continuity and helped them deal with the transition.

“I think it has been better for them than bringing in someone from the outside,” Irish said. “I’m keeping them informed and acting as sort of liaison between coach Hill and the kids. They want to know how he’s doing and that he’s doing well.”