Jul. 13—New Decatur football coach John Ritter is heading into the season with realistic expectations.

Ritter was hired this year, taking over for Aairon Savage, who left after one season in which the Red Raiders finished 3-7.

Ritter has seen plenty of success in his career, amassing an 85-42 record and nine playoff appearances across 10 seasons as head coach at Russellville, West Morgan and Red Bay.

At Decatur, though, Ritter knows there's a rebuilding process ahead. He inherits a roster that has 106 total players. However, 70 of those are freshmen and sophomores.

"We have very high expectations and standards of what we want this program to be known for, but Rome wasn't built in a day," Ritter said. "Sometimes you have to be patient, and I'm not a patient person."

"The important thing is these kids want to buy in and want to work hard and that's half the battle. We just have to keep plugging along and get some age and experience for these guys and we're going to be in a good spot," Ritter added.

When Savage took over at Decatur a year ago, replacing Jere Adcock, it was the first time the Red Raiders had a new head coach in 28 years. Couple that with the fact that Decatur graduated a large senior class from the 2022 season and last year was understandably an adjustment period.

"It wasn't where it was when Jere left, but that's not all on Coach Savage. When you lose a big senior class there's turnover, when you lose a head coach, there's turnover and when you get a new staff, there's turnover," Ritter said. "It was kind of the perfect storm of change that culminated in a season that isn't what you expect from Decatur football."

The good news for Decatur is Ritter is no stranger to rebuilds. When he took over at West Morgan in 2015, the Rebels had won just two games in three seasons, but by his third year, West Morgan finished 10-2 and won a region championship.

When he landed at Russellville in 2018, the Golden Tigers were coming off a 3-7 season, the program's worst in 20 years. Ritter led them to nine wins in his first year.

"That's the plan and the goal. It's something I take a lot of pride in," Ritter said of bringing that same success to Decatur. "The variable in that is the kids. We have a certain brand of football we play, what we do is very new school/old school. At the end of the day, it's about running, hitting and tackling."

"There's intangibles that can't be coached, and we were lucky at West Morgan and Russellville that those fell into place," Ritter added. "Preparation, accountability, if the players realize If I do what I'm supposed to do, and we're all on the same page, I think we'll have that same success here."

Ritter will have plenty of help as he's assembled a strong staff to support him. The staff features plenty of familiar faces in Decatur, but also some new faces. That includes a new offensive coordinator, Kurt Kennedy, and a new defensive coordinator, Clay Massey.

Massey brings 16 years of coaching experience, including seven as a coordinator at Bibb County. Kennedy comes from Samford University, where he was tight ends and tackles coach. He's also had stints at Florida State, Louisiana-Monroe, Jacksonville State and the Pittsburgh Steelers in various roles.

"Clay Massey I've known for 15 years, and I've tried to hire him multiple times. I'm thrilled it finally worked out." Ritter said. "I've known Coach Kennedy for 10 years, and to steal a guy that's worked at Florida State, Samford and Jacksonville State is a big deal. He has a very high football IQ."

Decatur will open the season on Aug. 23 at Buckhorn. Rivalry games and region games against Austin, Hartselle, Athens and Muscle Shoals also highlight the schedule.

Ritter says he doesn't know for the season holds, but what he views as a successful first year won't come down to wins and losses.

"I want us to maximize our potential," Ritter said. "What does that look like? Is that 8-2 and hosting a playoff game, 6-4 or even 2-8? Once the season begins, we'll be able to figure out what our ceiling is and maximize it. If our ceiling is 8-2, let's not go 6-4 and leave 8-2 on the table."

— [email protected] or 256-340-2395. Twitter @CalebSuggs2