Written Monday May 12th at 1:16 PM

Pontiac will have a new boys basketball coach next winter.

The Phoenix have named Dion Harris their new head coach confirmed by the D-Zone. Harris is the third coach in three years in Pontiac. He takes over for DeQuan Washington who stepped down recently.

Harris played at Michigan from 2003-2007 and was Mr. Basketball for Detroit Redford.

Harris new team has a ton of questions despite having JJ Claudio and Jaiden Price coming back. Program strength will be something to watch with the Phoenix. Pontiac will be in the Blue with Troy, Troy Athens, Seaholm, Bloomfield Hills, and Royal Oak.

It will be really interesting to see how the transition period comes for Pontiac and for Harris. We’ll see what happens.

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

Here is the tweet from D-Zone (Stu Carrolton) confirming the move.

https://x.com/TheDZoneBBall/status/1921972327694119106

Written Saturday May 10th at 12:28 AM

Adams will have a new girls basketball coach next winter.

Highlanders Coach Joe Malburg will not be returning as Girls Varsity Basketball Coach. The Rochester Community Schools Zip Recruiter website confirmed the news. The job was posted on May 6th 2025 which the application is on the bottom of this column.

Malburg took over for Shay Lewis who is at Schoolcraft College in 2020. He went 28-53 in his four years with the program. Malburg has had a ton of success with smaller schools prior to coming to Adams.

The Highlanders overcame a ton of injuries winning 10 games but they were shocked falling 37-33 to Romeo in the district first round after the Bulldogs lost two key players to injuries in that game last season. Adams has Faith Zoldus, Jordan Jarrell, Layla Tomezak, Regan Moore, Alyssa Stephens, Nora Camaj, and Nadia Heppner coming back for the new coach.

Adams has program strength which will help the new coach but there will be a transition period which has to happen during the season. They will be in the Blue with Southfield Arts and Tech, Harper Woods, Troy, Troy Athens, and Ferndale next season. The district has not been released as of yet but it is likely the Highlanders could see their arch rivals Rochester and Stoney Creek in their district.

It will be really interesting to see how Adams approaches this going forward.

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

Adams Coaching Application from Zip Recruiter.

https://www.ziprecruiter.com/c/Rochester-Community-Schools/Job/Adams-High-School-Varsity-Girls-Basketball-Head-Coach-(2308)/-in-Rochester-Hills,MI?jid=b0d34f6ddd8b8136

Written Friday May 9th at 7:21 AM

The MHSAA Representative Council has made some changes effective next school year.

Here are some of the noticeable rule changes.

In Girls Wrestling, district and regional championships will be awarded after State Champions were awarded last season for the first time.

Tennis will have a pilot program with all four lower peninsula finals to be played at the Midland Tennis Center in Midland.

In football the team that forfeits the game will not get the bonus points if they forfeit the game. Also eight man football gets to play their semifinal games on turf at a neutral site. The top seed previously got to host the game.

Boys Volleyball becomes an official sport with the state semifinals and finals played at the Kellogg Center in Battle Creek on June 5th-6th which will have two divisions based on enrollment. They also approved a Co-Op with teams with less than 3,500 students.

For a team to declare a scrimmage, the win-loss record can not be altered. One rule must be altered to be declared a scrimmage like in basketball it can’t be eight minute quarters.

Baseball players can play on the same day with a 38 game limit still applying to students.

Volleyball players can play no more than 18 sets per day.

Bowling can play no more than eight games on a school day (Monday-Thursday)

Transfers

The MHSAA updated its transfer rule regarding the specific sport transfer regulation to the full and complete move exception that allows a student to gain immediate eligibility.

The first change is it increases the number of school days to 180 for a student who changes residences and must compete at that new school before returning to a previous school district and having potential athletic eligibility. If the student decides to move back to their previous school district before the 180 days then they could lose their athletic eligibility in all sports unless it it agreed upon between the two schools and the MHSAA.

The second change increases the amount of time to an athletes former residence must be signed into a long term or lease agreement to a minimum of one year (12 months.)

Middle School/Junior High

The Representative Council approved a change to allow middle school/junior high school teams to begin practice on the first day of classes if it’s before the first available first allowed practice day before the 14th Monday before Thanksgiving. Ninth grade football may begin practice on the same day as the Junior Varsity and Varsity if the ninth grade team is comprised only of ninth grade students who have been approved for eligibility advancement.

Also middle school/junior high students will be eligible for high school competition due to their high school’s small enrollment but they will be subject to the high school transfer rules. In the OAA, none of these schools would be eligible with most of the league at over 450 kids.

I will talk more about this on Tuesday’s podcast.

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

MHSAA Representative Council.

https://www.mhsaa.com/topics/mhsaa-news/council-approves-tennis-finals-pilot-program-girls-wrestling-titles-districts

Written Sunday April 20th at 12:03 PM

Happy Easter OAA Nation. Here are several OAA Football storylines heading into this fall.

Any takers to Ford Field???

There should be plenty of OAA representation that are serious contenders to get back to Ford Field. Adams in Division One when healthy is a very dangerous team especially with the system they run in the veer offense and with Ryland Waters coming back at quarterback which should allow Nolan Farris to move back to wide receiver. The Highlanders could be a team when healthy could make another deep postseason run. Harper Woods is the other serious contender in Division Four, the Pioneers are loaded with proven experience on both sides of the football and wants to get back after a really tough loss to Goodrich in the State Semifinals last season. Other teams that could get to Ford Field include Stoney Creek, Clarkston, West Bloomfield, and Lake Orion in Division One while Groves, Oak Park, North Farmington, Farmington, and Seaholm are possible teams to watch in Division Two.

Groves is the most interesting to keep an eye on.

The Falcons had Ford Field in their grasp but very questionable play calling and coaching decisions cost them in their stunning 28-27 overtime loss to Orchard Lake St. Marys in the Division Two State Semifinals last season. Groves lost a ton of proven talent from last season. They will have a new quarterback in LaVelle Shannon taking over and proven lines on both sides of the football. The White will be much improved with Stoney Creek and Harper Woods looking to be the top teams with Rochester not too far behind while Southfield Arts and Tech should be improved. Coach Brendan Flaherty will have some big challenges ahead of him.

New Coaches:

The OAA has several new coaches coming into the league this fall. Scott Merchant (Bloomfield Hills,) James Carlisle (Avondale,) Donovan Jackson (Ferndale,) and Trevor Potts (Oxford) are the new coaches in the league. Merchant comes to Bloomfield Hills from Lawrence Tech (College Football) and was at Chippewa Valley for a long time and his son is in the program. Carlisle comes to Auburn Hills from the thumb area (Vassar) and was at Imlay City. Jackson was on the staff at Detroit Cass Tech and played at Ferndale so he’s really familiar with the city. Potts was the defensive coordinator under Coach Zach Line at Oxford. He was also an assistant at Adams under Coach Tony Patritto. Every coach is going to have different challenges to adjust to this season.

Weaknesses:

Every team in the OAA has glaring weaknesses heading into the season that they will need to address. It should be really interesting to see how each team addresses their weaknesses this summer before each team heads into their week one matchups. My goal this summer is to talk to every coach including the Waterford Schools and see how everyone is doing heading into the season on my podcast.

Waterford Schools lurking:

Waterford Kettering and Waterford Mott will join the OAA this winter while North Farmington and Farmington will depart the OAA joining the Lakes Valley Conference next season. The Waterford schools will have one more fall in the Lakes Valley Conference before coming into the league. Waterford Mott will have a new football coach in Tra’Jan Seay taking over the program for Chris Fahr who is the defensive coordinator at Davison. Seay was an assistant at Orchard Lake St. Marys last season so he brings that to Waterford. He will have an transition period which has to happen during the season. The Corsairs did not make the postseason going 3-5 and has a ton of questions in the Lakes Valley Conference this season. Waterford Kettering went 3-6 but was one win away from making the postseason for first year coach Brian Barnes. Barnes has done a really good job with the Captains in his second season with the program. The postseason is within reach for Waterford Kettering but getting there will be the challenge especially in Division Three.

Divisions:

Here are the divisions heading into this season in the league, not in any particular order.

Red: Lake Orion, Clarkston, Oxford, Adams, West Bloomfield.

White: Stoney Creek, Harper Woods, Groves, Rochester, Southfield Arts and Tech.

Blue: Bloomfield Hills, Oak Park, Seaholm, North Farmington, Farmington, Troy, Troy Athens.

Gold: Pontiac, Ferndale, Avondale, Berkley, Royal Oak

Written Sunday April 20th at 11:08 AM

Happy Easter OAA Nation. We are officially in the offseason for girls and boys basketball and AAU season is underway. Here are the top storylines heading into next season for both girls and boys basketball.

Will the OAA be represented at Breslin next season???

This question could be answered in June when the MHSAA releases the basketball districts. The league in girls has a ton of solid teams heading into next season but it comes down to proximity that could create the best path if anyone has a shot at getting to the Breslin Center next season. In the boys there really isn’t a dominant team and it was really disastrous for the league with only three teams getting out of the districts last season. Could this be Ferndale’s best chance to make it back to East Lansing after two dominating years by Warren Lincoln??? They fell to Detroit Pershing in the district semifinals but the Eagles might have the league’s best chance to get back to Breslin. As mentioned the question could be answered when the MHSAA releases the districts in June.

Coaching vacancies.

There has been several vacancies to watch this offseason. The changeover surrounding Stoney Creek has been really fascinating. The Cougars recently let go boys basketball coach Jeff Olind which who takes over the job will be their third coach in four years. There is talent and proven experience but whoever takes the job is going to have a daunting task ahead of them and behind the scenes has been a complete mess. Coaches Joe Sermo and Terrance Porter has stepped down at their respective schools (Berkley, Southfield Arts and Tech.) Both schools are really appeasing when it comes to talent and program strength. In the girls, the Ferndale girls basketball job is open but whoever takes that job will have a huge challenge ahead of them when it comes to building program strength.

Coming and Going.

Waterford Kettering and Waterford Mott are reentering into the league for the first time since 2008 this winter. Waterford Kettering has a new coach in Rex Walters with an very experienced team coming back and could be the early favorite in the Gold this season. Waterford Mott made it to the regional finals under Coach Jeff Jayson but they will have to replace several players from last season’s team. Waterford in the girls will be really interesting to keep an eye on led by returning guard Savannah Sartorius for Coach Andrew Wellman. On the flip side it will be the Farmington schools (North Farmington and Farmington) final year in the OAA as they will depart for the Lakes Valley Conference in 2026-2027. Farmington and North Farmington are loaded with proven talent and experience in the boys and they are in the Red. In the girls Farmington and North Farmington should be much improved after having rough seasons.

Divisions for 2025-2026 season.

Here are the divisions for the 2025-2026 season, not in any particular order.

Boys:

Red: Clarkston, Avondale, Groves, North Farmington, Farmington, Ferndale, West Bloomfield.

White: Lake Orion, Oxford, Adams, Rochester, Stoney Creek, Waterford Mott.

Blue: Troy, Troy Athens, Seaholm, Royal Oak, Bloomfield Hills, Pontiac.

Gold: Berkley, Southfield Arts and Tech, Oak Park, Harper Woods, Ferndale University, Waterford Kettering.

Girls:

Red: Lake Orion, Clarkston, Oxford, Stoney Creek, West Bloomfield, Rochester.

White: Groves, Seaholm, Royal Oak, Bloomfield Hills, Avondale, Berkley.

Blue: Troy, Troy Athens, Adams, Southfield Arts and Tech, Harper Woods, Ferndale.

Gold: Oak Park, Ferndale University, Farmington, North Farmington, Pontiac, Waterford.

Stay tuned to the blog and OAA Now for updates.