Jul. 12—When John Ritter took over as the Decatur High head football coach prior to the 2024 season, he knew he faced a tough challenge.
Ritter was Decatur’s third head coach in as many years and was inheriting a team coming off a 3-7 season with a roster that had 70 sophomores and freshmen. Add that to the fact the Red Raiders play in one of north Alabama’s most stacked regions, and it wasn’t a recipe for success in his first season.
The results were what you would have expected: Decatur finished 2-8, including an 0-5 start.
“We needed some success early, and unfortunately our schedule was front-loaded. I’m not going to lie, we got our butts kicked,” Ritter said. “We were playing a lot of guys that really should have been playing JV, and they got thrown to the fire. They had to grow up early, which was unfair, but that was the way it was.”
As rough as the 2024 season was, though, fast forward and Ritter says he feels a lot better about where the program sits compared to this time last year.
“It takes time to build the foundation and set the culture you want, especially when you’re the third coach for a team in three years. The kids are going to be apprehensive at first, so you have to build that trust, build those relationships,” Ritter said.
“The difference between now and last year is we have guys that understand how we want to do things. They understand that our goal is to maximize our potential, and they realize that’s why I’m so hard on them, that that’s where the passion comes from.”
Decatur returns experience at nearly every position group, including the offensive line, where Decatur returns four starters: Jermaine Collier, Harris Penley, Brayden Battles and Will Perry. Ritter said that group took its lumps last season, but he believes that will pay off now.
“We were very young at that position last year and just not very good. You might can get by with not being good up front in 5A or lower, but in 6A, it matters,” Ritter said. “With all those guys back, I think we’re going to be much better up front, and I believe that will be a game changer for us.”
Decatur also has a roster full of players who were “thrown to the fire” last season and those players took their fair share of lopsided losses, experience that could pay dividends.
“They had to grow up quickly. Our sophomores aren’t really sophomores and our juniors aren’t really juniors. They’ve been tested,” Ritter said. “They got their butts whipped, and they survived. I think that’s a positive outlook for the players, because now they can go make plays with confidence.”
So what are realistic expectations for Decatur in 2025? The Red Raiders are still early in their rebuild under Ritter and face another daunting schedule that includes a stretch of Buckhorn, Austin, Jasper, at Muscle Shoals and at Hartselle to open the season. Those teams finished a combined 40-16 in 2024.
Still, Ritter drew parallels to his time at West Morgan when the Rebels jumped from 0-10 in his first season to 7-4, saying he believes Decatur is on a similar track.
“I believe in the way we do things; the proof’s in the pudding. It worked at West Morgan, it worked at Russellville and I believe we can bring that same success here to Decatur.”
— caleb.suggs@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2395. Twitter @CalebSuggs2