Somewhere, someone is talking about Willie Smith. It makes his spider sense tingle. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
The brotherhood (and sisterhood) of athletic directors has his back.
Coupeville Schools administrators are contemplating budget cuts, and one proposal — to remove athletic director duties from Willie Smith and add them to an assistant principal’s already long list of duties — has received considerable blowback from the community.
But it’s not just locals who have responded.
Smith’s fellow athletic directors, who know the 10,001 skills the job requires, and what Willie has accomplished during his tenure — are speaking out.
Our first AD hails from a Western Washington school which has had big-time athletic success while facing many of the same challenges Coupeville does.
They requested anonymity, saying “I believe everything I wrote, I just don’t want to be wrapped up in the politics.”
AD #1 statement:
It’s fantastic you are advocating for Willie. He deserves it.
I have first-hand seen Willie Smith’s Coupeville transformation.
This truly is what Willie has done, transformed Coupeville athletics.
It’s an unfortunate situation that most districts across the state are facing — budget cuts.
With that, some individuals matter more than a position. They affect culture and leadership and bring identity.
This is who Willie is for Coupeville. He’s a transformational leader.
Willie has guided Coupeville into the Northwest League.
He’s headed consistent programs across the board that are always competitive.
Sport after sport, Coupeville has large participation numbers, is competing for a state berth, and has brought excitement into the community.
These are student-athletes who volunteer time to impact the younger students, have high GPA’s, and always give back.
Go to a home event in Coupeville, and the community shows up.
The community supports and wants the best for its athletes. The athletes show up and compete exceptionally well.
This is entirely a change that has happened since Willie came in.
Willie has guided Coupeville back into the Northwest League, increased participation numbers, has built athletic programs up despite COVID, is an excellent president for the Northwest League, and has formed a unity with Coupeville’s programs.
Where Coupeville athletics was to where it is now is transformational in its identity, character, and representation of what small-town athletic programs should be like.
What makes this even more impressive, Willie has guided Coupeville through tough times before and has done so with consistency and excellence.
Willie is a great athletic director, and I hope there’s an opportunity to retain Willie.
He is a highly fair, positive, consistent, and proven leader who deserves to be held as an athletic director.
Coupeville has an excellent administration.
Mr. (Steve) King, Mr. (Geoff) Kappes, and Mr. (Leonard) Edlund have guided the secondary schools very well.
They’ll continue to impact Coupeville’s students positively.
Mr. King has always been someone who I have had the utmost respect for, and I trust that he is doing everything he can to continue impacting Coupeville positively and keeping Coupeville a great place.
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