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Posts Tagged ‘Athletic Director’

La Conner hoops coach, AD movin’ on up

Posted in Everything changes, tagged , , , , , , on August 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

CJ Woods, the guy in the tan pants coaching La Conner during this royal rumble, is changing states. (Chloe Marzocca photo)

La Conner’s loss is Arizona’s gain.

The Braves are bidding farewell to CJ Woods, who taught, coached boys’ varsity basketball, and was Athletic Director at the school.

The multi-threat, whose resignation was on the agenda at Monday’s La Conner School Board meeting, will be the new AD and head boys’ hoops coach at Chinle High School.

Located in Apache County in Arizona, it’s the largest school in the Navajo Nation.

Chinle’s basketball program was featured in a six-episode Netflix documentary, Basketball or Nothing, which premiered in 2019.

Woods replaces Raul Mendoza, who retired after a 44-year career, the last seven at Chinle, in which he won more than 800 games.

While his time in La Conner was relatively short for Woods, it was successful.

He led the Braves boys’ basketball team to the District 1/2 title and a trip to the 2B state tourney this past winter, fueled by a postseason upset of top-ranked Coupeville on its home court.

La Conner also added another state volleyball title last fall, with Woods occupying the AD office.

“I really enjoyed my time coaching with La Conner,” he said.

“The boys the past two years were just really fun groups to be around,” Woods added.

“Getting an opportunity to spend time in sharing the game together is what it’s about.

“I’m thankful I was given an opportunity to just learn and grow as a coach and educator.”

Woods, who graduated from Friday Harbor High School and the University of Idaho, is the second Athletic Director to leave the seven-team Northwest 2B/1B League in recent weeks.

He follows in the footsteps of Ryan Wilson, who departed Orcas Island and has relocated with his family to Lake Quinault.

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Orcas AD, spiker coach off to new adventures

Posted in Everything changes, tagged , , , , on July 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Ryan and Rachel Wilson hang out with their four children, who all would look great in Coupeville’s black and red at some point. Just sayin’.

“It’s been a special place for me since I was a kid.”

Growing up in a military family, Ryan Wilson, who was the Orcas Island High School Athletic Director until his recent resignation, often spent vacations in the Lake Quinault area.

Further cementing the connection, he and wife Rachel, who led the Vikings volleyball program, were married at the local lodge.

Now the couple, and their pack of precocious kids, have left the Northwest 2B/1B League and bought a home almost right next door to the school in Lake Quinault.

Call it home sweet home, unless I can convince them to transfer their athletically blessed, but still quite young, offspring to Coupeville at an appropriate time.

“Ha! We’ll see,” Ryan Wilson said with a chuckle. “Never say never.”

For now, he’ll be teaching in Lake Quinault, while both he and Rachel, a former professional volleyball player, will look for ways to stay involved in sports.

The departure of the Wilsons brings an end to their run on Orcas, which began when they arrived there in 2018 from California.

The Vikings employed three AD’s in as many years before Ryan Wilson accepted the job, and he provided stability while spurring great growth.

Under his watch, Orcas teams showed substantial improvement in almost every sport, with boys’ soccer claiming a state title and two runner-up finishes.

Rachel Wilson led the Vikings volleyball team to the 1B state tourney last fall, the program’s first trip to the big dance since 2011.

A first-round victory over Waterville-Mansfield marked the first time Orcas had won at the state spiker championships since 2005.

Ryan Wilson is justifiably proud of the heights Vikings sports reached, while mindful of the hard work put in by himself, his coaches, and support staff.

“The lion’s share of our program’s achieved at the highest level, and those kids will have great stories to tell for years,” he said.

“It was fun to be part of that success, having committed to being part of something bigger than just myself.”

The Wilson’s positive impact, on both Orcas and in the NWL, can’t be denied.

“Ryan and Rachel were a huge asset to the school and the league,” said Justin Paulsen, an Orcas parent and basketball official.

“Their influence will be greatly missed,” he added. “Lake Quinault is lucky to have such a positive and motivated influence joining their program.”

That’s an opinion shared by Coupeville AD Willie Smith, who has worked with Ryan since his arrival in the region.

“He was passionate and completely vested in the Orcas community and kids,” Smith said. “Fiercely loyal to our league and a totally standup guy who I respected a lot as a fellow AD.

“He has a great future ahead of him in every aspect other than being a good bowler or golfer, but hey you can’t be good at everything,” he added with a big laugh.

“He added levity and had a good perspective in our meetings and was a lot of fun to be around. He’s going to be missed by us and Orcas for sure.”

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“The response from the community was unbelievable”

Posted in Hands Off My Willie, tagged , , , , on May 17, 2023| 1 Comment »

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

He’s back, though he never really left the office.

After much public discussion of possible budget cuts in Coupeville Schools, one wildly unpopular suggestion has been removed from consideration.

Willie Smith will return as high school/middle school athletic director for the 2023-2024 school year, and his job duties will not be added to the workload of an assistant principal.

Instead, the man who has led Wolf athletics to sustained success both on the field and in the classroom, while also operating as Northwest 2B/1B League President, remains in charge.

Smith and school officials agreed to trim his prep periods from three to two, which saves the district money while not compromising a well-oiled machine.

As things settle back into place, the man with the plan ignored his always madly pinging phone for a moment or two to offer some thoughts.

 

A myriad of thank you’s are in order from me for all of the support, positive comments, and work that went into the district finding a way to bring me back to the athletic director position.

First and foremost, a great big thank you to you, David.

Not just for the article, or the title, but for the commitment that you’ve shown in the promotion of our school, athletes, coaches, and community.

You are constantly seeking ways to highlight all of our kids and programs, whether it be an athletic program, community program, or activities.

The pride you have for Coupeville shines through in each and every article and I know that our kids and community walk a little prouder each time you publish something.

Secondly, the response from the community for me was unbelievable.

Oftentimes, the role of an educator goes unnoticed and we don’t always get to see the impacts that we have made until years down the road.

The recognition that the Coupeville community had for me in recognizing the work of our coaches, student-athletes and all the moving parts of our athletic department was amazing.

While I may be the head of the athletic department, I am only as good as the people surrounding me, and it is as much of a testament to their work, dedication, and commitment to our vision that makes our athletic program so successful as it is.

Third, the support of my fellow athletic directors, both in their public statements as well as the conversations that they had with me in private.

It provided such a validation that the work we do as a collective to promote athletic excellence among each of our schools and leagues is so worth it, and I’m very excited to continue to be a part of that process.

My coaching staff is without a doubt, the best!

They are tireless workers and advocates for our kids and each other and were so incredibly positive throughout this entire process.

They were ready and willing to go the distance with me and fight for the programs which they have helped to build.

It truly is a testament to each and every one of them to see the accomplishments that our students have had throughout the years as well as the respect that all of our programs have throughout our league, district and state.

They are truly a remarkable group!

Thank you to our school staff, many of you spoke to me throughout this process offering encouragement and support.

Like so many other parts of the athletic department, your dedication to our students and support of all of our programs, athletic and otherwise, has helped build our school into a positive and successful one.

Lastly, I would like to thank our administration as they worked to find a solution that was amenable to our current budget as well as provide a way for me to continue in this position.

This will allow us to continue to build on the successes of our programs to make Coupeville, not just the gem of the Isle, but all of Washington.

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He’s still standing

Posted in Hands Off My Willie, tagged , , , , on May 15, 2023| 1 Comment »

The man abides. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

He’s not going anywhere. Not just yet.

Amidst a swirl of possible budget cuts as area schools deal with financial shortfalls, one proposal — to remove Willie Smith as Coupeville High School/Middle School Athletic Director and hand his duties to an assistant principal — has been discarded.

In an email sent out Monday, Coupeville Schools Superintendent Steve King said things have changed in the past two weeks.

After learning about the most recent teacher resignation and with our current Athletic Director, Willie Smith, being willing to serve as AD with one less release or prep period, we are excited to announce that Mr. Smith will continue as our 2023-2024 athletic director.

Release or prep periods have the most significant financial implication for our current model, as a secondary teacher’s teaching period costs approximately $11,000 – $20,000, depending on the teacher’s experience level.

We are thankful that Mr. Smith is willing to continue his work as AD with two release periods instead of three.

Smith, who is the President of the Northwest 2B/1B League, has been a teacher, coach, and AD — for varying lengths of time — since arriving in Coupeville from the wilds of Sequim in the mid ’90s.

Under his leadership, the 2022-2023 school year has been one of the strongest in school history for Wolf athletics.

Every high school team, varsity and JV, earned a team GPA of 3.1 or better, with three sports — girls’ cross country, boys’ track, and girls’ tennis — winning state academic titles.

The Wolves sent football and girls’ cross country teams to the state championships in the fall, with baseball slated to play at state this weekend.

Coupeville also qualified members of its boys’ cross country and track and field teams for the big dance, with girls’ tennis players still in the hunt for state berths as well.

When the proposal to cut Smith’s AD duties was announced, public response was swift and loudly in opposition to the move.

Numerous other athletic directors spoke out against the possible change in articles which ran here on Coupeville Sports, and you could sum it all up in the words of Friday Harbor AD Brock Hauck.

“It’s a terrible idea.”

And now, it’s an idea no more.

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“He has a great dedication to his position”

Posted in Hands Off My Willie, tagged , , , , , on May 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Willie Smith, still smiling while doing 10,001 things at the same time. (Helen Strelow photo)

Randy Sweeney has seen them come and go.

Over the past two decades-plus, as a coach and athletic director at Concrete High School, he’s competed against, and worked with, an endless list of men and women who share his love for helping shape the future of young student/athletes.

One of the best of those, he said in a recent chat, is his counterpart in Coupeville, Willie Smith.

“He has a great dedication to his position and loves being involved at every level,” Sweeney said. “Willie always puts his kids first, and that’s what makes him successful.”

The duo faced off during baseball and football games starting in the late ’90s, after Smith arrived in Coupeville from Sequim, and the relationship has grown from there.

Friendly, though deeply committed rivals, they’ve carried a healthy respect for each other as Concrete and Coupeville have shared the same league, parted ways, then reunited.

Now, with possible budget cuts looming, including a proposal to strip Smith of his AD duties, handing them off to an assistant principal whose own job will be cut by 16 days, Sweeney is one of many to call shenanigans.

“Most people have no idea of what we really do as AD’s,” he said. “Of the amount of time we all put in, year-round, always being available from early morning until late evening to deal with any issues which come up.

“It’s the scheduling, the travel, running events, dealing with officials, crowd control — the extent of what we do for a relatively small amount of money at most schools would surprise people.”

Having someone like Smith, who mixes a calm personality and extensive knowledge with decades of working smoothly with their peers, is invaluable.

“Willie is a huge benefit to Coupeville, but also a huge benefit to the Northwest League,” Sweeney said.

“He is always prepared, pays attention to the needs of other schools as well as his own, and is willing to work to benefit everyone.”

While most high school AD’s in Washington state juggle other responsibilities, whether it’s teaching PE like Smith or being a school groundskeeper like Sweeney, athletics drive their day.

Asking someone to jump into that on a limited basis isn’t the way to go, said Concrete’s main man.

“I’ve seen it tried many times, in many ways, and things fall by the wayside,” Sweeney said.

“It’s nobody’s fault, you can have good people working hard, but you need someone from this world who is deeply committed to make things work.

“You have to look at the relatively small amount of money which would be saved, against what Willie brings to Coupeville. Which I think is a lot.”

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