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As parents, or even as coaches, you may sometimes ask "what does an Athletic Director do all day long?"

They don't teach class in most cases, they don't discipline kids like an assistant principal, they don't work with curriculum.  What do they do then?  They run your athletic department.  Most of the schools in the CHL have between 20-25 sports, counting both boys and girls sports.  They are in charge of the sports programs for grades 7-12.

I was an Athletic Director for 27 years.  Here is what that career meant to me.  I was responsible for hiring and evaluating all of the coaches, grades 7-12.  Sometimes that is 75-100 personnel.  I once told my principal that I had more coaches than he had teachers and also had a much higher turnover of personnel than he did.

Once you get the coaches hired you have to make sure they have all the equipment and balls that they need for practice and games.  For example, I purchased football, volleyballs, soccer balls, tennis balls, golf balls, basketballs, baseballs, softballs and lacrosse balls.  But it is not just the balls but also uniforms and equipment.  Sleds, basketball rims and nets, lacrosse and football helmets and shoulder pads, wrestling mats, volleyball standards and nets, soccer goals, high jump and pole vault pits.  This just scratches the surface but you get the idea.

Athletic Directors make sure the teams get to the away games.  They have to develop a bus schedule weekly and sometimes that isn't as easy as it sounds when the busses are busy with after school runs to get the students home from school.

For home events it is even busier.  If money is charged at an event, and most of the time it is,  the AD has to get the tickets, money boxes and change ready for every event, including weekend events.  Sometimes there are more than one event a night.  Another job is making sure the game will go on without any problems.  Officials have to be hired and you have to make sure that they show up and on time.  They have to also be paid and this is another procedure you are in charge of.  An AD has to also secure ticket sellers, ticket takers, announcers, scoreboard operators, etc. for every event, of which there are probably over 300 events in a single school year.

Another big part of an Athletic Director's job is making up schedules 7-12 for each sport.  That is scheduling probably over 1000 events throughout the year.

Overall, you are in charge of a very big budget and must stay within that budget on a yearly basis.  You have to also attend monthly AD meetings for the CHL where decisions are made about things like all conferences teams and awards, league tournaments, and league expansion, among other things.

You also have to take and handle complaints about facilities, coaches, won-loss records, playing time, uniforms that do not fit, and anything else that may come up throughout the year.  I once got a complaint from a parent about a sport tryout where cuts were going to be made, before the tryout ever happened.

It is a time consuming job with long hours and weekends included and sometimes you feel like it is a no-win situation.  However, the benefits of seeing kids grow and mature and become better athletes in their sport outweighs all the negatives.

In closing, I feel the most important part of the job is to try your hardest to make sure all the kids have a positive experience in the sport in which  they chose to participate. When you see your Athletic Director at your CHL school tell them you appreciate all that they do for your school's athletic program.

Indian Hill Braves finished a strong season, losing to Taft 30-14.

Taylor Yellowjackets had a strong season but they too went down to defeat to Alter 37-13.

The Indian Hill Braves are State Champs!!!  The DIII State Champs defeated Teinsburg 1-0 in Columbus Sunday afternoon.   The Braves finished 24-0-2 on the season!  Congratulations to all the young men and coaches on the Indian Hill Soccer Team.

Division IV-Region 16

#2 Wyoming (11-0) lost to #10 Kettering Alter (6-5) 42-0.  The Cowboys finished a CHL championship season 11-1.

#6 Taylor (9-2) defeated #3 Valley View (9-2) 42-10.  Aaron McFarland had a terrific night. He had 7 receptions for 69 yds and 2 TD's, 2 carries for 10 yards and 3 interceptions on defense and returned one for a TD.

Taylor will play Kettering Alter next Friday at 7pm at Fairfield High School.

#9 Indian Hill (8-3) defeated #1 Clinton Massie (9-2) 16-13 in Overtime. Ben Sichel went 18 for 27 and 214 yards at QB.  Devlan Daniel had 23 carries for 109 yards.  Drew Seinen also kicked 3 FG's on the night including the game winner in overtime.

Indian Hill will play Cincinnati Taft next Friday at Milford HS at 7 pm.

Division V-Region 20

#11 Madeira (6-5) lost to #3 Waynesville (8-3)  55-6.  The Mustangs finished a fine season at 6-6.