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BLOOMFIELD HILLS — Bloomfield Hills High School has hired former Lawrence Tech University and Chippewa Valley High School head coach Scott Merchant to be the school’s next football coach.
Last week, the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Famer made his return to high school football official. Merchant takes over a team that went just 1-8 (0-6 in the Oakland Activities Association Blue division) last season and finished last in the OAA Blue.
“I sat in the stands last season as a father,” said Merchant, who helped lead Chippewa Valley to a Division 1 state title in 2018. “My goal is just to come in here and to be a positive contributor. I just want to give these young people the best high school football experience they can have.”
One of the biggest factors in Merchant’s decision to apply for the position was the fact that Bloomfield Hills is home. Merchant’s daughter won a soccer state title with Bloomfield Hills in 2022 and he has a son who is currently on the varsity football team.
His wife also works in the Bloomfield Hills district.
“I’ve never been able to coach in the community I live in,” Merchant explained. “It was about family and home for me… It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to coach in my own backyard.”
Merchant has made it a focal point that the team is going to have a positive impact in the community off the field, and the program has immediately hit the ground running.
In Merchant’s first week as the head coach, the team started planning on going to local elementary schools to read to young students for National Reading Month in March, and has more events planned throughout the year.
“I also want them to get involved in the flag football program we have here,” Merchant said. “We’ll be doing a camp, hopefully, in the summer too, if I can get that scheduled.”
The impact that Merchant wants to have on the city and the community is also a big reason why Bloomfield Hills had mutual interest in bringing him on board. Aside from the long list of on-the-field accolades, the school knew that he would be a great fit for the program’s culture as well.
“The fact that he is a community resident and is very familiar with our high school, our community, and our student athletes… it’s just a great fit,” Bloomfield Hills Athletic Director Mike Cowdrey said. “He’s going to be front and center in the community.”
On the field, it will be an uphill battle for the team, but that’s something that the new coach welcomes. The goal is not only to build up a program, but to get to a point where Bloomfield Hills plays itself out of the OAA Blue.
“I’d like to see us grow to a point where we’re hopefully able to move up in the OAA,” Merchant said. “But we have to be competitive in the (OAA) Blue before that becomes a realistic expectation.”
All in all, Merchant is trying to build a culture. He wants Bloomfield Hills to become a community that’s proud of its football team and is excited about it.
“Ultimately, you want your players… to come back and coach with us,” Merchant said. “Because that’s how you build tradition… I had a lot of my former players come back to Chippewa (Valley) and coach, and it was a great experience.”
Cowdrey understands what having a successful football program can mean for a community.
“When you have a public school that has a successful program, the energy that that can create throughout the community is second to none,” Cowdrey said. “It’s something that we have lacked the last few years. Hopefully, he can reinstate that and generate some excitement.”
When speaking about the excitement surrounding Merchant leading the program, Cowdrey put it best.
“He can generate excitement,” Cowdrey said. “He’s a big-name hire.”
