As a frequent lurker and a poster from time to time, I have noticed that there are a lot of very intelligent individuals when it comes to WPIAL football and other high school sports in general. Since I feel like this post could be somewhat beneficial for me career-wise, I feel like I should share some info on myself without whole details and how the thread title makes sense.
I am currently a senior at a university in Northwest Ohio with Western PA roots majoring in Sport Management. My lifelong goal is to become an AD at the high school level. Throughout my life, I have always been fascinated by "program building" and "culture building". Currently, I am in the middle of my intro internship at a local high school near my university out here in Ohio. Our school thrives on two and three-sport athletes, as our enrollment around roughly 900 students. I have thought at times about bringing some staff from Western PA out here to instill those tough values to these kids. In one of my courses, I am doing a research paper about different qualifications on a state-by-state basis in PA, OH, and MI.
While doing my research, I stumbled upon Ringgold and how they are looking for an Anticipated Athletic Director. That made me think of a few things. One, how has things gotten so bad for their athletic programs over the past few years? I recall someone in another thread mentioning that their football program was on the verge of having the longest losing streak in WPIAL history at one point, so how has a program that once had Joe Montana fallen so far? Perhaps, there is someone from the district who can fill me in on the other sports in a greater detail. I would greatly appreciate it. The baseball team won a state title in 2018, and boys basketball won a state title in 1995, but that is it. I must ask, and this is someone who has no knowledge of the area as I am from the North of Pittsburgh who has no idea of the socioeconomic aspect of the community or the population shifts over the years, but in this season and years past, how has Ringgold fallen behind other South Hills programs like USC, BP, PT, TJ, South Fayette, and even Mt. Lebo under Palko? I looked at Ringgold's roster and I saw that they currently have 42 players according to the WPIAL website. In addition, they look as if they have no depth or size, especially up front. As a 4A program in Western PA, this seems pretty bad.
I know that I am rambling on and on, but my main question is: How can a new Athletic Director at Ringgold bring back the prestige and credibility that they once had? I remember seeing a rumor that Joe Montana refused to come back to his alma mater unless he was paid handsomely, is that true? How would an AD go about rebuilding a 4A program in Western PA from scratch essentially? Also, do you think that Ringgold will ever come back at least as a threat in football? I am nowhere near qualified to be a high school Athletic Director at this point in my studies, but I like to envision on what I could potentially accomplish if I were in a position like the future AD at Ringgold will be, and I wish the very best to whoever that may be.
Anyways, that's enough of my rambling. I just wanted to say that I appreciate being a part of this community and would've been very hurt if the spam threads would've killed this forum. The AD that I am currently working under told me that many high schools are shifting away from hiring Athletic Directors with educational or administrative backgrounds and are looking for candidates with business or sport management or administration backgrounds, so hopefully that will help my future prospects in achieving my career goal.
With that being said, if you know of anybody who could potentially help me in my career, I would greatly appreciate a DM of some sort. I am looking for potential networking connections that could be of benefit to myself. Thank you.
www.maxpreps.com
