The Mishawaka Athletic Department is going in a new direction this year. Former Fox Sports and WSBT sports director, Dean Huppert, was hired as the K-12 athletic director. School City of Mishawaka, is the only school district in the area with a K-12 athletic director.
Huppert has high expectations for the athletic department. “I want all the sports to grow in numbers, but not only that we want excellence here and by that we need quality coaches, so I will work on getting the best coaches for our athletes, and also getting great facilities.”
Huppert also acknowledged the learning curve he is experiencing. “One tough thing about about being the athletic director is understanding how stuff works, schedules, event management, etc. It can be hard to grasp at the start,” Huppert said, “One advantage I have from being a former sports director at the news station, is I have a lot of connections with athletic directors and officials.”
Huppert takes over for Mr. Aldrich who now holds a position at one of the elementary schools.
Huppert wasn’t the only change in the athletic department. Former Mishawaka High School teacher and basketball coach, Ryan Watson stepped down as head basketball coach and accepted a job as assistant athletic director.
“The transition from coach to assistant athletic director has been smooth, and that credit goes to Sherry Keyser, Linda
Weber, and Dean Huppert,” said Watson on his transition, “My wide range of coaching experience has also helped me adjust.”
Both assistant athletic directors have responsibilities. “My schedule has been relatively the same, from a time standpoint, I have three sports I’m designated to in the fall, golf, boys and girls soccer, and everyone does football. I take care of officials scoreboard operators, etc,” said Watson.
“Some things I love about being an assistant athletic director, I get to interact with different coaches that I couldn’t interact with before and learn more from each coach,” said Watson on what he likes about his new role.
Mishawaka had a lot of changes, and hopes to improve the new facilities with upgrades, to the new lights, a new playing surface, a new track, and more.