Schools
District Works to Keep Royal Oak Football Coach Jeff Hill on the Team
High school coach had intended to resign to focus on his baby daughter's illness, but administrators are allowing a leave of absence while his assistants handle daily duties.
The Royal Oak school district has given head football coach Jeff Hill a leave of absence rather than accept so he can attend to his youngest daughter's battle with leukemia.
Earlier this month, Hill – who had taken over the Ravens team just one year earlier – to step down to take care of family matters, saying he didn't want to put the team behind in its quest to improve.
"It's hard to ask kids to give a commitment when you're not there at any time, and that's a big part of the off-season," Hill said.
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Senior quarterback Brandon Fredrikson respected the coach's decision at the time. "We can tell that he's a family man first because he stepped down from football — something that he loves — but he obviously loves his family more," Fredrikson said.
But administrators did not want to lose the coach, a Royal Oak native and Dondero graduate.
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"We've been working with Coach Hill and have afforded him the opportunity to take a family leave of absence as he responds to the needs that he has in his family," Royal Oak Superintendent Shawn Lewis-Lakin said. "So rather than a resignation, we are working under a leave of absence."
In the meantime, the team has been working on its off-season strength and conditioning.
"Assistant coaches are providing continuity for the program and doing the allowed off-season work with players to keep the program moving in a positive direction on which it was set last year," Lewis-Lakin said.
Athletic Director Brian Gordon also confirmed via email that Hill is on family leave, but said he could not comment more on the "personnel issue."
Hill did not return calls for comment.
"We're going to be working through — in the coming months — to determine in consultation with Coach Hill, the best interim solution while he is on the family leave," Lewis-Lakin said.
Maleena Hill, born Nov. 13, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia on Dec. 26 and has been at Children's Hospital in Detroit undergoing chemotherapy and other treatments to fight the serious illness.
to help with the Hill family's medical bills and updates on Maleena's progress can be found on .
