Lessons of four months have Woosters Kellar looking into future
brian questel
November 9, 2011
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Promo: Nearly four months in, Kellar settling into his job but certainly not slowing down
Lessons of four months have Woosters Kellar looking into future
By Brian Questel
When Andy Kellar was hired as athletic director at Wooster High School in late July, he was returning to his roots. He also knew he was stepping into a whirlwind of activity.
He hasnt been disappointed in that regard. That sprint is now a third over as the Generals have wrapped up their fall season and are heading into the start of the winter campaign. That doesnt mean Kellar is getting any down time, but he at least is a portion of the way through an intense year of learning.
It definitely has been a sprint, said Kellar recently. I have not had a lot of time to stop and reflect. Im getting some time between now and the start of winter sports; however, as I am preparing for winter Im not getting as much time as I would like. The time to sit back and reflect will be when the spring season is over and I can review what was done in each sport season, what was good, what was bad, what I need to improve on and what we need to improve on.
Kellar, who had previously served as AD at Black River a decade previously, was well aware of the demands involved in the position, so the amount of time hasnt surprised me.
Im not sure it surprised me, but I very glad to see the quality of coaches we have at every level of our programs, 7-12, said Kellar. Im very pleased with the quality of the coaches. I think this staff is much stronger than my previous experience at Black River and I hope our community and staff appreciate that as well.
The highlight of the fall campaign was Wooster winning the Ohio Cardinal Conference title in girls soccer, going 14-3-3 overall and reaching the district championship game, while the girls tennis team finished second in the OCC and was 14-3 overall as well. In addition, both cross country teams posted third-place efforts in the OCC to highlight the fall season. After a rainy fall that left the outdoor facilities resembling a swamp on more than one occasion, Kellar was reminded it wasnt always the on-field results he had to be concerned about.
I think the overall experience with the community been positive, said Kellar. People have approached me about programs and facilities that may need to be improved. I have to agree, like everything else in life, we can improve on what we currently have, one of those pieces being our facilities.
We currently have a committee that meets regularly to discuss what we need to do to build upon our stadium we currently have and ways to improve that, i.e. field turf, i.e. field house, etc. The necessity to upgrade for own athletes is there and our programs, but if want to be able to draw state tournaments similar to what we hold with the Division III (basketball) district, the future is definitely field turf. (In football) Round I went to Cloverleaf and field turf, and Round II went to Medina and field turf, along with its capacity.
If we want to hold state playoff games, we have to upgrade our facilities. No question about that.
If the upgrades were a backburner subject before this fall, a record-setting rainfall pushed that into the collective conscience of players, coaches, fans and administrators alike.
There is no question upgrading the stadium to field turf will open up opportunities to market the Wooster City Schools and Wooster City Schools athletic programs, said Kellar. I believe in the long term it will bring dollars back to us in multiple ways. It will save money that would go into maintaining that field after a rainy season like this year, the cost of rebuilding that field and the cost of lining the field multiple times a week and the cost of mowing.
The return on our investment would be the ability to draw state tournament games where we have multiple ways to bring revenue to Wooster, i.e. parking and concessions that could easily be $5,000. I think something that is overlooked is the over-playability and the amount of athletes put on field turf as opposed to grass. The durability of grass doesnt give us a field to allow freshman games in there or even the Pee Wee program to allow them to play Saturday night game on turf, which promotes our feeder programs. Even our middle school – it would be nice play on field turf.
It would also allow for training to fit teams needs.
Our soccer teams could train on grass and turf, knowing some of their games are on turf and grass, added Kellar, a critical component since as the deeper those teams go into playoffs, their games will be played on an artificial surface.
A most critical issue, though, is that the field would always be available.
I would never have to worry about the viability of the field, which I do now, said Kellar. I had to shut down our field for over a week just to give it the opportunity to recover so we could have a home football game on it.
While his experience has been exceptionally busy, it has also been positive.
You always have ups and downs, he said. The way I view everything in life, at the end of year I will evaluate the job I have done and what I need to do to make Woosters athletic programs better. I can certainly see staying at Wooster long term and I would love to be able to do that.
As well as field turf, our baseball dugouts need replaced. We have some safety issues with dugouts. They need to be replaced. Coach (Derek) Boyd is out every weekend to work on the field and hes doing an unbelievable job of upgrading that facility on his own. That speaks to the dedication of that coach and you will find that across the board. Our community should be pleased with the individuals we have coaching our student-athletes at Wooster.
Kellar is looking to get through the year and start to retain the institutional knowledge of what surrounds any business or community.
What I dislike in myself, its not a fault, but a lack of knowledge of what was done in the past and who did what, he said. It takes time to learn those nuances and thats what I have to figure out. Ive only been through the fall – Ill know more. The winter and spring seasons stand on their own and I need to go through those seasons to get a handle on how we operate and how we change.
The hours of the job are not an issue whatsoever. I get the most enjoyment when Im leaving the office and going to an event and watching our athletes compete, watching them grow as individuals. Im a big believer in kids learning to compete is important in everything in life from high school on.
Thats certainly the most enjoyable part of the job, Kellar added. The example of watching our girls soccer team going to sectionals was a surprise (to some), including the Suburban League. They competed against bigger, stronger athletes and to watch our girls not only compete, but beat those teams and make the district finals was great to watch. Thats the fun part of this job.
