Last year, Perry McDonald’s 28-year coaching career came to an end, or so he thought.
The Oak Hall School volleyball team advanced to two FHSAA final fours and won four straight district titles in McDonald’s five seasons, but he retired from coaching at the end of the 2024 season.
OHS hired Amy Strawser in February to lead the program. However, the Eagles struggled and started the season 4-10.
That led to a phone call to McDonald.
“My wife, Yadira, and I were returning from Greece and had a one-night layover in London,” McDonald said. “We were relaxing in our hotel when my phone started blowing up with reports that the Oak Hall varsity girls volleyball coach had parted ways with the program. I knew that it had been a hard season for all parties involved, so I immediately texted some of my old players to see if they were doing OK.”
The Eagles had 17 wins last year, 25 the year before, a total of 24 in 2022, and 21 in 2021, so this was uncharted territory for the program.
“It hurt me emotionally to think of how frustrating their season was and how especially painful it must have been for the four seniors,” McDonald said. “After about 30 seconds of evaluating my schedule, I smiled to myself and thought that this is one of those times when life serendipitously cooperates. I called Athletic Director Edwin McTureous and said ‘I have a fairly open schedule for 24 days until I need to travel again. I am happy to help.’ The rest is semantics.”
Within 16 hours of arriving back in the U.S., McDonald had a sit-down with some of the returning players to assess what type of defenses, offense, serve receive and rotational alignments they were utilizing.
“The next day, I met with the entire team to let them share their perspectives on what the team’s strengths were, what areas of improvement were needed and why things went wrong en route to their 4-10 start,” he said.
The Eagles, who also had their 13-game winning streak against rival Saint Francis Catholic Academy snapped on Sept. 2, were fading fast.
“I am a strong believer in the power of shared vision, and I felt like it was essential for the players to have ownership of what their team could and would become,” McDonald said. “I also asked them to candidly tell me what they needed from me over their final 3 1/2 weeks. The resounding consensus is that they wanted to have fun and to win a district championship.”
A total of seven players who are on this year’s team were a part of last year’s team under McDonald.
“Most of the young women on this team have played for me previously and have experienced how quickly we were able to grow and develop in each past season,” McDonald said. “Our mantra became that in 3 1/2 weeks, we could move mountains if we worked hard and remained diligently focused on the step that was immediately in front of us. Winning would not come easy, and we had to stay in the moment and learn together.”
Shockingly, within eight days, this 4-10 team “metamorphosed into a 10-10 bunch of gritty, competitive and perseverant young women.”
“I may have served as a catalyst, but the inspiration came from the players,” McDonald said. “We are blessed to have four great senior leaders (Lizzie Cannon, Haley Janes, Josie Pickens and Hannah Timm). We are also fortunate to be witnessing middle blocker, Kendylle Bishop, explode into prominence as a dynamic attacker and match-winning blocker.”
Last night, Oak Hall played The Rock close, winning the second game before losing to the Lions in four sets 17-25, 25-19, 21-25, 20-25.
OHS, which had won six in a row since McDonald’s return to the sideline, will travel to FHSAA Rural No. 4 Lafayette (Mayo) on Tuesday.
“We are thrilled to be where we are right now and relish the challenge of closing out our regular season versus The Rock and LaFayette,” McDonald said.
That’s followed by the home finale, a district rematch against Saint Francis Catholic Academy on Senior Night on Thursday, Oct. 9.
“Once we cross these two hurdles, I know that my players will be absolutely salivating over their chance at redemption versus district foe Saint Francis,” McDonald said.
They are hoping to carry the momentum, which saw the Eagles climb 78 spots overall in the state, into the Class 2A-District 1 tournament, which begins a week from Monday.
“I believe that Maclay (Tallahassee) hosts the quarterfinals on Monday, Oct. 13, then the higher seeds host the semifinals (10/14) and championship game (10/16),” McDonald said. “Currently, I believe we are ranked fourth out of six (but rising quickly). I told the girls (Wednesday) that nothing has come easily this season. Let’s just plan on winning a championship the hard way and enjoying the ride along the way.”
Maclay is currently the top seed, followed by Destin, Saint Francis Catholic Academy, Oak Hall, Rocky Bayou Christian (Niceville) and P.K. Yonge.
Although temporary, McDonald is back to try and help save their season.
“I feel like Al Pacino in Godfather 3, ‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in,’ he said. “In all seriousness, coming back for 24 days was an easy decision. I truly care about these kids and have loved their families. Duty called and life was fortunate enough to grant me the opportunity to contribute.”