New head coach Joe Williamson and Hillsdale football prepare for 2024 with confidence

HILLSDALE — There are plenty of returning faces and new ones that will make an appearance for the Hillsdale varsity football team this fall sports season.

It is also a new era of football for the Hornets, as longtime head coach Marc Lemerand retired after the 2023 season and longtime assistant coach Jerry Curby retired after helping oversee the high school weight room renovation project that completed in spring 2024.

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The Hornets have put those new facilities to good use this offseason as they prepare for Week 1 and their annual matchup with the Jonesville Comets, which will be held at home on Aug. 29. Who is helping lead the Hornets through this year's offseason program and regular season? Several returning coaches including Shaun McCavit will help new head coach Joe Williamson continue the traditions of Hornet football while looking to bring back playoff football to the community and athletes.

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Williamson has been coaching football since his time as a player for the Hillsdale College Chargers and former coach Keith Otterbein came to an end and has been teaching for 21 years. Williamson got his first coaching job for Litchfield High School in 2007 before coaching for four seasons at Concord. Williamson was the head coach of Jonesville football from 2014 to 2016 before stepping away to focus on family and teaching. In 2021, he moved to Hillsdale schools. He joined former head coach Marc Lemerand's staff as an assistant for two years before taking over the role this offseason.

“I was very fortunate to coach with Lemerand the last two seasons as an assistant,” Williamson said. “When he decided to step away this past winter, I prayed on it and thought about it a long time. We felt maybe this was an opportunity to try it and see being a head coach again, because at that point in time I really wasn’t thinking about being a head coach ever again. But we thought maybe this was an opportunity to give that a try.”

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One of the most enticing pieces that helped him decide was the football coaching staff at Hillsdale High School, some of whom have been with the program since the 1990's.

“You have great guys around you that are loyal and committed to the school and want to see these kids become great meant. It’s a player driven program. Lemerand was always huge on relationships with kids and everything being about the kids becoming their best versions, which is everything I’ve believed in as a player and as a coach. We’re just trying to carry on that tradition here.

"When these kids leave here, they know this is always a place they can call home. There are coaches they can always reach out to no matter what happens in their lives. You know, that’s kind of the best part of this job is when you see a former player, or a former student come back a few years from now.”

Coach Williamson has received assistance from former players who will be a part of the coaching staff at Hillsdale High School. The entire Hornet coaching staff has been working a large portion of their summer practices on conditioning, getting the team up to speed on new playbooks and motivating the players to be hungry for success.

“The kids have really embraced those changes, and we’ve had some great leadership step up this summer. It’s been a fun transition into this job.”

Before 2021, the Hillsdale football program had earned playoff berths in all but one season. The team has missed the playoffs three straight seasons, ending their most recent season with a 3-6 overall record. While transitions in personnel and scheme have played a part in Hillsdale's fight to get back to the playoffs, the team also plays in what has been one of the toughest conferences to play in the state, the Lenawee County Athletic Association.

The conference most recently had a state champion in 2021, the undefeated Hudson Tiger D8 title run. Clinton High School played in the Division 6 semifinals in 2022 and played for a regional title in 2023, having made the playoffs every season since 2012. They joined the LCAA in 2020. Longtime LCAA foes Blissfield, Dundee and Ida have been perennial playoff contenders in the past decade-and-a-half that the Hornets have been a part of the conference.

In addition to the normal LCAA schedule they face, they will rematch against Lake Fenton on the road in week two, in addition to their season opener against County rival Jonesville. In coordination with senior leadership, the coach Williamson has been hard at work instilling a confidence into the 2024 Hornet squad and teaching them how they can build off that confidence into success this year.

“I think having that challenge, making you have to be on your toes every single week, and bringing you’re a-game every single week, If you’re fortunate enough to make the playoffs from our conference you know you’re ready for whatever’s coming those first couple rounds.”

Part of the changes Williamson will implement to help Hillsdale prepare for that challenge will be a focus on speed and spreading the ball around to their playmakers, whilst also keeping their traditional full house playbook at the center of their offense. Next time, we will take a look at some of these playmakers that will be a part of the offense and defensive changes coach Williamson and the Hornet staff are looking to use to their advantage come the arrival of Week 1.

This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: New head coach Joe Williamson and Hillsdale football prepare for 2024 with confidence