Daniel Merchant has a vision to sell.
His plan includes equal part hard work, discipline, and commitment on the field and in the weight room. If it is followed, Merchant is confident he can help the Oak Hill Academy football program return to prominence.
Merchant, a former assistant football coach and head baseball coach at Immanuel Christian in Steens, accepted that challenge last month when he decided to become the Raiders’ new football coach. He replaces Benjie Merchant, who spent one season as the team’s head coach before leaving to take a job as an assistant football coach at Raymond High School.
Merchant is well aware of Oak Hill Academy’s struggles in recent years. He is the school’s fourth head football coach in the past six years. The Raiders are 7-46 in the past five years. The Raiders’ last winning season was 2006 when they went 7-4 and advanced to the playoffs.
Merchant’s goal is to build a new mind-set and to return a winning tradition to Oak Hill Academy football.
“We are going to have to build from the ground up because mentally they have been beat down,” Merchant said. “They have that losing mentality, and we’re going to have to change the mentality a little bit.”
Merchant spent last season at Nettleton High, where he worked as an assistant baseball coach. He also worked in the spring with the school’s football team as its secondary coach. Prior to that he worked as baseball coach and defensive coordinator on the football team at Immanuel Christian. He worked with head coach Shawn Gates and assistant coach Bubba Davis to help lead the Rams to a 6-6 record in 2010 and a spot in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools playoffs.
Merchant, who lives in the New Hope community in Columbus, said he wanted to find a job closer to his home to avoid the hour drive he had to school. He said he wasn’t sure if he wanted to return to working as a teacher and as a coach at a private school, but he said he and his wife prayed about it and decided the move was best for the family, especially since they have a nine-month old child.
“I’m definitely excited,” Merchant said. “The Lord wanted me there, and I told (headmaster) Mr. (Yandell) Harris I plan on being there a long time. It is a good thing for my family, and me and my wife are extremely happy about being closer to home.”
Merchant played football and baseball at Sulligent High (Ala.). he went on to play baseball at Bevill State (Ala.) Community College. He said he plans to be more demanding as a football coach at Oak Hill Academy than he was as a baseball coach at Immanuel Christian. He feels establishing a disciplined, expectation-filled environment is a first step toward transforming the culture of the Oak Hill Academy football team. After working with the players for a little more than two weeks, Merchant feels the Raiders are on the right track.
“I think right now they’re receptive about what we’re trying to do offensively and defensively,” said Merchant, who plans to use a split-four defense and a hybrid Wing-T team with two wing backs on offense. “Hopefully it will be a smooth transition.”
Harris, who worked last season as a coach and as an administrator at Heritage Academy in Columbus, feels merchant is the ideal fit for the position. He said Merchant will teach driver’s education and health and also work as the school’s boys golf coach.
“He is a fine young man, and all of the people I talked to said he is like a sponge,” Harris said. “He has a lot of enthusiasm, he is a hard worker, and he has a great rapport with our children. He is the kind of person who is going to demand discipline and coach them up. He is a real eager, young, energetic football coach.”
Harris said he wasn’t necessarily concerned with finding a coach with previous experience. He said he liked the vision Merchant explained for the program and believes he will be able to provide long-term stability for the football program.
“We wanted someone to come in here and make it his own and have a commitment to be here for a long time,” Harris said. “We really wanted someone to come in and establish himself and want to be at Oak Hill and make it a long stop and work with some good young men in our football program.”
Merchant is confident Oak Hill Academy will be able to build on that potential. He said the depth in the sophomore and incoming freshman classes bodes well for the future, and figures to push the team’s number close to 30 this season. Last season, the Raiders had a roster of about 20 for most of the season.
“I told him I want to win and I want to be competitive,” merchant said. “My main goal is to get in the playoffs because you always have a shot if the ball bounces the right way. I want to get in the weight room and help the kids get bigger, faster, and stronger. They’re doing a good job and have made a lot of gains since last January. They have a great work ethic. The main thing is play competitive ball and do the right things. If they do the little things right, the big things will take care of themselves.”
Carl Middleton, Chris Craven, and Cody Allen will work as assistant coaches for Merchant.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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