For Oak Hill head coach Tom Goode, 2024 was a whirlwind.

Goode took over for veteran Raiders coach Bill Rosenthal when the latter retired in July 2024. Goode, who was an assistant on Rosenthal’s staff and also coached junior high football at Oak Hill, was familiar with the program and its players even if he didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for the approaching season. In fact, fall practice started for the Raiders about three weeks after Goode was promoted.

With a young roster bereft of experience – Oak Hill was starting six freshmen on varsity by season’s end – the Raiders went 0-9 while allowing more than 38 points per game.

“Some of that was a lot of growing pains,” Goode said. “But it made us better. …One thing about this team…for a team that was 0-9, I can honestly say our last week of practice for the season was probably our best week of practice.”

Now with more than a year of experience in charge and a solid group of returning upperclassmen, Goode is excited about 2025.

“They were dedicated to getting better,” Goode said. “The wins and losses didn’t show, but I think that attitude – we had a great spring practice – and I think it was that same attitude that they carried over to the spring and to the summer.”

And while experience on the roster may have been lacking, experience on the sidelines most certainly wasn’t. Goode, himself a 15-year veteran with stops at Texas Southern University and West Point High School, surrounded himself with football lifers.

“Coach (Tony) Stanford, our defensive coordinator, this is his 50th year,” Goode said. “Coach Bubba Davis is with us, and he’s only on his 56th year, and coach (Steve) Denson running our offense, he’s in his 40th year or so. So, the kids are getting lots of wisdom and experience.”

With that experience comes something of an old-school football aesthetic – one that Goode thinks fits the type of “hard-nose” players he has.

“We’re planning to show different formations and stuff,” Goode said, “but, at the end of the day, we’re planning on running the football and trying to control the clock. We’re really trying to mold our offense this year to the personnel we have on the field.”

Defensively, the Raiders will show multiple fronts in an effort to keep offenses guessing.

“One thing about our kids is that they’re very smart,” Goode said. “And that allows us, on offense and defense, to utilize not only their talent but to utilize – whether it’s running multiple formations or multiple fronts and schemes – (their intelligence) because our players can pick that up.”

The 2025 squad will boast a more experienced roster to complement its legendary coaching staff. Goode credits his eight “dedicated, hard-working” seniors.

“Every one of them is a leader in their own right,” Goode said.

Goode singled out offensive/defensive tackle Brody Glusenkamp and running back/linebacker Boston Cunnigham as key contributors moving forward.

“(Glusenkamp) started his first game in his 10th grade year,” Goode said. “He’s played a lot of football. Boston Cunnigham, he’s played running back and linebacker, and he’s started pretty much every game since his 10th grade year.”

Like every MAIS program, the last round of realignment was a significant shakeup for the Raiders. Now a member of MAIS 2A Region 3 along with Winona Christian School and Winston Academy, Oak Hill’s schedule now features eight non-region games. While Goode said he doesn’t have a “strong opinion” on realignment, he is grateful that some of his team’s travel burdens have been eased.

“I like our district,” Goode told The Dispatch. “One thing, as a coach, you look at how far you’re traveling. In the last few years, we’ve had some long bus rides.”

As for expectations, Goode is focused on the little things that help make up the big picture.

“When I get on that bus, my focus is ‘Did we play tough and have good technique?’” Goode said. “That’s it. And if we’ve played tough and had good technique, then, in my mind, we’ve done our job.”

Oak Hill opens its season Aug. 22 with a 7 p.m. home game against Manchester Academy.

Philip Poe is sports editor.