There’s an old story about boiling a frog that goes something like this;
If you put a frog in a pan of cold water and very slowly turn up the heat, the frog won’t realize it’s being boiled. But eventually, when it’s too late, the frog will be boiled. That’s what I am right now – a boiled frog.
I have served as the athletic director for Juan Diego Catholic High School for the last 11 years, and, as of last Friday, I am retired. Like the frog, the number of things that were slowly but steadily piled on my plate as athletic director, year by year…well, it became too much. So much so, that my school has hired two people to take my place.
So imagine my surprise (shock might be a better word) when I heard that the Grand County School District voted to eliminate the position of full-time athletic director at Grand County High School. Apparently, the plan is to share the job between three other employees who have another full-time job, one of whom is the principal, who I must assume has other fairly pressing duties such as running the school.
I’m not sure I can adequately express how short-sighted, wrong-headed, and simply lacking in the understanding of what the athletic director does, that this decision represents. Again, I’m being replaced by two full-time employees. To think that my job can be adequately, or even somewhat adequately, performed by three people with other important duties is a recipe for disaster. The students of Grand County High will be underserved in both areas. The logistics, planning, coordination, coach training, athlete registration, venue management, and much, much more that is just part of the athletic director’s job simply can not be done by committee. This is a bad decision.
My prediction is that Grand County High will be calling Ron Dolphin multiple times a day for the first month of the school year, and begging him to come back shortly after the first completely preventable disaster happens at a Grand County High athletic event. Hopefully, for the sake of the students, there is still time to reconsider.
Chris Long
Athletic Director, Juan Diego Catholic High School – Retired
