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WEIRTON -- Being a head football coach is certainly something Troy Fetty hoped to be during his career, though it wasn't exactly the plan this season.
Sometimes, though, the plan changes.
Such is the case for Fetty and the Madonna football team, as the longtime assistant coach who had been set to be the Blue Dons' offensive coordinator took over during the first week of August when Ted Arneault Jr., who was named the coach during the offseason, stepped down before coaching a game to accept the position of principal at Weir High School.
"It's not exactly how I planned on getting a head coaching job, but everything works out the way it does for a reason," Fetty said. "I know Ted wanted to be here a long time and build the program back up, but he got a great opportunity that came up and I'm going to pick up that flag and carry it forward, I'm ready to pick up the ball and run with it. It was a great honor to be asked.
"Madonna has been a great program in the valley for years. There is a rich tradition with coaches like Bob Kramer and Doug Taylor, they've had a lot of success here. My goal is to uphold that tradition, keep adding to it and keep it moving forward."
Coach Troy Fetty discusses the upcoming season
Fetty, Madonna's fourth coach in less than three calendar years, hopes to bring continuity.
"I know things have been a little unstable here the last couple years with different coaches, I'm hoping to bring that stability back to the program," Fetty said. "Coming into a new program, you want to build relationships and make your stamp. You've got to build trust and relationships with the kids, the parents, the school, the community and become a part of it.
"You have to earn trust, that's the biggest challenge."
Fetty, an experienced assistant coach with stops at Brooke, Edison, Weir High and most recently at his alma mater, Buckeye Local, wasted no time in taking over, meeting with the players and parents within hours of the school making it official and resumed practice the next day.
He has head coaching experience in softball and junior high wrestling.
As for the team he took over, the Blue Dons are coming off a 5-5 season and just missed the Class A playoffs for a second-straight season.
Gone from that group are a group of four seniors in Brycen Hair, Anthony Gross, Harry Norman and Santo DoBraska.
Also departed is last season's starting quarterback Lucas McAllister, who transferred to Big Red. He threw for more than 2,500 yards and compiled 30 total touchdowns.
"They did graduate a lot of seniors last year and the quarterback transferred, but the kids that are back all played a significant role. We have four starters back on each side of the ball."
Stepping into the QB role this season will be Chase Littleton, a senior that played wide receiver last year and had more than 500 receiving yards and seven TDs.
He'll play as an end on defense, where he was equally as stellar with over 100 tackles, seven sacks, four fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles and a defensive TD.
Also back is Jonah McKay, a slot receiver that had 890 yards and nine scores as a junior.
He also had a big year on defense with nine PBUs and four interceptions to go with more than 70 tackles.
Senior Luca Muzzi, sophomore Matthew Geer and Noah Kimberland will make up the running back group. Joining McKay at receiver will be KJ Ward, Angelo DoBraska, Trent McCartney and Andre Crossland.
"We're a very athletic group, the skill positions are our strength," Fetty said. "We have a lot of versatile kids that can fill a lot of roles. We have some size in our backfield."
Up front will be Logan Brown at center, Dom Maple, Caleb Kimberland, Preston Adams, Nick Snodgrass and Andy Caprese.
Littleton, Kimberland, Brown and Geer will make up the starting front on defense with Muzzi and Maple at inside backer and KJ Ward, McFarland and Trent Ward on the outside. McKay will play free safety, Crossland, DoBraska and Noah Kimberland at corner. Matthew Crisci is also in the mix.
Similar to recent years, Madonna will run a spread offense and look to spread the ball around. They'll also run a 4-2-5 defense, which Fetty has implemented as a defensive coach during multiple stops in his career.
"We're going to look to spread the ball around, that's going to be our strength," he said. "We had a lot of kids contributing in our seven on sevens over the summer.
"We competed hard in seven on sevens, we went to Washington and Jefferson and WVU and every school we went up against was bigger than us, we saw a lot of Class AAA equivalent teams, a team that's ranked in the top 25 in the nation from Maryland, we played Massillon Jackson ... We went 2-2 at WVU and our kids competed well and physically stood up well.
"Most of our kids are basketball and baseball kids with a few track runners and wrestlers. I've always encouraged kids to play multiple sports, they're competitors and that's important, especially at a small school. It makes them well-rounded athletes. Madonna has had a lot of athletic success."
The senior class consists of Muzzi, McKay, Littleton and Kimberland.
Fetty and company were hoping to add a few more players to the mix before the season starts.
"It will be tough with 16 but we're working through it," Fetty said. "We're working on getting some more kids out, but we're working with the kids we have and we're excited about what we have.
"It's important for us to keep everyone healthy. We're keeping things as simple as we can and everyone is training in multiple positions so we can move guys around in different positions as we need to. All of our D-line can play linebacker and vice-versa, our secondary can play linebacker.
"Our style is going to be about executing, playing fast and being efficient."
Coaching at the Class A level means Fetty has now been part of a staff at all three levels in West Virginia.
"It's a little different, you have to do some things a little differently but football is still football and kids are still kids, so some of it is pretty similar," Fetty said. "It's about relating to the kids and getting them to play with a purpose, to play for one another.
"Our goal is to play all 10 games and keep everybody healthy and the score will take care of itself. Our main goal is to take care of what's important now. We focus on accomplishing what we need to accomplish that day and being the best we can each and every day."
The Blue Dons open the season Aug. 25 at Wellsville.