Looking at the Berkley Football Coaching Situation.

Written Sunday April 1st at 5:45 PM

As we are into April there is one football coaching vacancy that is needing to be fulfilled in the OAA and that's at Berkley High School.

The Bears are looking for their third coach in three years after Billy Keenest left to go back to Troy Athens, where he teaches and will be tasked of getting the Red Hawks back respectability and to the playoffs for the first time since 2011.

With Kennest's departure it leaves the Bears without a Varsity Football Coach.

According to my sources, the coaching search is not going well so far.

I have given it some thought where Berkley Athletic Director Lori Stone should look at getting the school's next head coach.

I thought about the Chris Sikora family tree but it's not likely anyone if anyone would come back from that staff that led the Bears to the postseason from 2013-2016, one included a regional final appearance in 2015.

If anyone from the Sikora tree would comeback to Berkley it would be Ray Ostrowski. Ostrowski was an assistant under Sikora but according to sources it appears that he is happy where he is right now.

Another coach I thought about would be Manny Bellamy. Bellamy coached at Berkley under Sikora but last season he was the special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach at St. Clair Shores Lake Shore. I wonder if it's possible that Bellamy would come back and coach the Bears???

It is likely that Berkley would have to go outside the box like they did when they went with Keenest. I think if the Bears choose to go this route then should go within the Farmington Hills Harrison tree and start from scratch. John Herstein is a name I've been saying for about a year now. I thought he would had gotten the job at North Farmington or especially at Farmington but the Raiders went with Bob Chiesa and the Falcons went with Kory Ciroch. Herstein is an assistant coach at Farmington Hills Harrison under coach John Herrington. Herrington has said on record that he is ready to coach his own team.

Another name I've thought about is Gary Griffith. Griffith was a long time football coach at Troy but was the defensive coordinator last season at Hazel Park. His defense was one of the main reasons why the Vikings got into the playoffs last season. Griffith knows the division where Berkley will be in this season. I have heard rumors that Griffith is looking at being the defensive coordinator under first year coach Nick Merlo at Stoney Creek.

It will be interesting to see where Stone goes with this football coaching search but whomever she chooses has to be the right guy for not only this year but into the future of Berkley football.