This weekend likely brought an end to the career of one of the state and county's most underrated football coaches in Jim MacDougall.
Following Berkley's 28-13 loss to Farmington Hills Harrison in a Division 2 district final, MacDougall announced it would be his last game following 47 years of coaching.
He will be sorely missed in many ways.
MacDougall established a reputation for building programs that were essentially in the gutter to good, solid squads.
Berkley was terrible when MacDougall took over five years ago, but here they were on Saturday an extra point away from tying mighty Harrison in the fourth quarter in a playoff game.
The Bears lost only twice this season and won their first playoff game in 15 years in the first round over Farmington.
MacDougall did a similar turnaround at Pontiac Notre Dame Prep for two years before he went to Berkley.
Not only that, but MacDougall got the most out of his kids off of the field as well. Wherever he went, the performance of his players in the classroom and their offseason commitment improved by leaps and bounds.
Hopefully more coaches come around in the future like Jim MacDougall.
- The regional round of the state volleyball tournament begins on Tuesday, and it appears as if Oakland County could be well represented in Battle Creek, sight of the state's final four, with the number of teams still remaining. The best matchup will be the first match of the Hartland regional on Tuesday, where county powers Lakeland and Farmington Hills Mercy will square off in a rematch of last year's regional final, won by Mercy in four games. The winner will play either Novi or Brighton in Thursday's regional final.