Oxford opted to look from within to find its successor to Zach Line as head football coach.

The Wildcats announced late last week that Trevor Potts would helm the program going forward following the departure of Line, who departed to take a special teams quality control position with the Denver Broncos last month.

Potts arrived in Oxford in 2021 and served as an assistant under Line’s staff the past few seasons, including last fall, which saw the team finish 7-4 and capture the OAA Red league title.

“Zach’s done a really good job of keeping connections with some of his former NFL teams,” Potts said. “When he got that opportunity, he kind of reached out to all of us. It was a pretty quick turnaround between our conversations and when the news kind of broke, but what a great opportunity for him.”

Potts said that brought about a meeting between the remainder of the Wildcats’ staff to try and digest Line’s departure and the best course of action going forward. He emphasized that keeping the core together was of the highest priority.“I believe wholeheartedly in what we’ve been doing the last several years at Oxford,” Potts said. “Zach’s done a really good job of bringing good people into the program. We’ve gone through the lowest of lows together, and we’re all connected to Oxford because of that. When Zach left, it was more important to keep everyone together and the sentiment from the whole staff was how do we move forward together and add things to our plate to keep it together and going?”

Potts said that there was no hand-picked successor, though clarified by saying, “None of us has head coaching experience, but certainly being a (defensive) coordinator the past couple years has helped me see more of the ins and outs of the program and made it easier to put my hat into that ring because I had been a part of the program in that way.”

When asked whether he knew immediately if he wanted the job, Potts added, “It didn’t take long to get there, and as time has gone on, I’ve felt stronger and stronger that this is what I want to do. I’m grateful that so many people have confidence in who I am, but probably more importantly, it speaks to how confident people are in what we have been doing and (that they) want to see the same culture, Xs and Os, a lot of what we’ve done to continue going forward.”

Potts comes from Rochester Adams (Class of 1998), where he played under Jim DeJager, and started volunteering with the program after graduating. His tenure as a varsity assistant with the Highlanders started when Tony Patritto took over, lasting from 2003 to 2017.

He called it “overwhelming” and “exciting” news to hear from Oxford athletic director Tony DeMare that he was the man for the job and said he’s ready to get to work.

“Last year was a really gratifying year,” Potts said. “We had a ton of seniors who stepped up, and in a variety of ways carried the flag. I couldn’t have been more proud of our whole family. (It’s exciting) to be able to continue to build the culture and kids who are prepared for not only the highs, but the lows of life, and for our kids to continue to get better day by day and trust in our message and process.”