.png)
OCP photo
Pirate News is a presentation of Hart Public Schools in partnership with Oceana County Press.
By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor
HART — Mac Houston is the new strength and conditioning teacher at Hart High School. In addition to the physical education courses, Houston will also teach history and is also serving as the Pirate varsity football team’s defensive coordinator.
“Strength and conditioning is really my passion,” he said. A 2009 Fremont High School graduate, Houston was actively involved in sports as a Packer. “I’m passionate about that physical conditioning aspect and giving kids the opportunity to do it during the school day.”
“The West Michigan Conference is very competitive.” WMC is not only high-performing in football, but in all other sports, such as wrestling, basketball, cross country and track. “That is something a community really attaches to and wants to be proud of, and I really want to facilitate that increasing here at Hart.”
A certified social studies teacher, the 35-year-old is also eager to teach U.S. history at HHS. He will instruct strength and conditioning for three class hours and history for two class hours.
Houston taught in Chicago for four years beginning in 2020. He was a firefighter for seven years prior to becoming a schoolteacher.
“It has not been a straight line journey to get to being a teacher,” he said.
“I started out in 2012 (as a firefighter) working out of Baldwin, and then that next year, I went out to California, working for the US Forest Service on the Eldorado National Forest. For two years, I was on a hot shot crew.” A hot shot crew is an elite, highly-trained team of firefighters who tackle the most extreme, remote and dangerous parts of major wildfires.
“Then, I worked on a helicopter in Moab, Utah for a year. That was the closest I got to being a smoke jumper was being on a helicopter. You don’t jump out of the helicopters, but they take you out to the really remote fires and drop you off for a day or two and come back and pick you up.”
Houston has always enjoyed an active and physical lifestyle, but suffering a torn Achilles heel last January has slowed him down a bit recently. “It’s been a nightmare of a recovery, but I am getting to where I see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
He played football as defensive back at Alma College when he attended school there during his freshman year. During the off-season, he suffered a back injury and could no longer play.
At Fremont High School, he played football and baseball and was a wrestler.
Houston’s parents, Mark and Mary Houston, were both teachers, and his father, who passed away in 2017, was a football, wrestling and baseball coach.
“I had always wanted to get into teaching, and I had my mom and dad as role models. I want to have a positive effect on the world by teaching kids how to be good teammates and how to prepare for what you want and set goals.”
He received his bachelor’s degree with a major in fire science and a minor in geology from Lake Superior State University in 2016. He returned to college and obtained his teaching certificate from Moorland University in 2019. He is certified in physical education and social studies and is currently working on his master’s degree.
After getting certified to teach, he taught physical education and health at Curie Metro High School in the Chicago Public Schools system and was the school’s head football coach. He also served as assistant coach for the baseball and wrestling teams.
“It’s the second or third biggest school in Chicago with 3,300 students on the southwest side,” he said. “It’s about 80 percent Spanish speaking. I love being in a diverse building, because the world is diverse.”
He returned to Michigan and taught at Manistee High Middle School for two years and was also an assistant football coach, head wrestling coach and middle school softball coach. He also served as a volunteer firefighter for the East Lake Fire Department.
Like the variety of sports he coaches, he encourages student athletes to play more than one sport.
When the opportunity arose at Hart, he jumped on it.
“It was an opportunity that has a lot of pros, and I am excited to be here. I’m excited to evolve the strength and conditioning and continue to see that grow, and it will hopefully become a building block for all Hart athletics whether it’s cross country and track—for them to continue winning state championships—and to support wrestling through strength and conditioning; to support soccer players through strength and conditioning; and to support the football team through strength and conditioning. Every athlete is going to be better at what they do if they just get a little stronger.”
______________________________________
Please Support Local News Coverage
For generations, local newspapers were supported by subscriptions. Today, while Mason County Press and Oceana County Press remain free to everyone, the cost of producing quality local journalism continues to rise.
If you value independent local news coverage, we invite you to help sustain it by subscribing to the MCP/OCP Daily Briefing for $12 a month — about 40 cents a day — or $120 a year.
Your subscription helps support the reporters, photographers and editors who cover local government, schools, community events, sports, breaking news and the stories that matter most to Mason and Oceana counties. In return, you’ll receive the MCP/OCP Daily Briefing each morning with the day’s headlines, along with occasional breaking news and special email editions.
Monthly subscriptions are available for $12 per month.
Click here to subscribe monthly.
Annual subscriptions are available for $120 per year. That’s a two month savings!
Click here to subscribe annually.
If you prefer to pay by check, mail your $120 annual payment to:
Media Group 31, LLC
P.O. Box 21
Scottville, MI 49454
Please include your name, mailing address, email address and telephone number so we can activate your subscription.
Subscription payments must be received before service is activated.
Whether you choose to subscribe or continue enjoying our free content, thank you for reading Mason County Press and Oceana County Press. Your readership—and your support—helps ensure that independent local journalism remains available to everyone in our communities.
This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2026 by Media Group 31, LLC, P.O. Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. All rights reserved. No portion of this story or its images may be reproduced in any form, including print, broadcast or electronic media, without the express written permission of Media Group 31, LLC.
As a news organization, Media Group 31 maintains published content as part of the public and historical record. Accordingly, stories are not removed after publication. At the editor’s discretion, stories may be updated or corrected as new information becomes available. Updates may be made by revising the original story or by publishing a follow-up story. Media Group 31, LLC reserves the right to modify this policy at any time. Please refer to our Use Policy for additional information.
