By: Maansi Maskai
Athletics Director Jeff Lamb will be retiring after a 27 year career at MHS, Athletics Director Jeff Lamb stated. He will be replaced by current Activities Director Joanna Butcher, Lamb said.
“[The position is] always offered in-house first, which means it’s offered to people in the school,” Lamb stated. “[With] a position like athletics director, it’s important they have some understanding of the culture. [Butcher] applied for the job and was selected by the principal.”
“I have a strong relationship with [Lamb] which helps and we are planning to spend time this summer, training and transitioning,” Activities Director Joanna Butcher stated. “He is planning to be available [for] the first couple months of the Fall as a consultant, mentor, [and] helper.”
Butcher will be responsible for overseeing every sports team, making sure all the athletes are cleared, making sure all the coaches are cleared, making sure all officials are ordered, making sure all buses are ordered, having to organize the Leo B. Murphy awards, having to do CIF-CCS (California Interscholastic Federation – Central Coast Section) clearance for athletes, and having to deal with any potential parent issues, Lamb said. The list is quite extensive, Lamb added.
“When I’m over there, I’m taking notes and trying to create a step-by-step procedure book,” Butcher said. “I’m trying to create my own manual essentially as I’m training with him.”
Transitioning from Activities director, she hopes to incorporate her passion for leadership and her background with student activities within the athletics department, Butcher stated. Some of her goals include improving the leadership skills of student athletes and advertising more for athletic events on campus, she continued.
“I’d like to meet with all the captains and the different teams once a month or once every six weeks while they’re in season so we can work on developing the leadership skills of our student-athletes: how to talk to peers, how to talk to your coaches,” Butcher said. “That’s one of the things that I would like to get off the ground.”
“Mr. Lamb [has] started that process by hosting the Positive Coaching Alliance and inviting the coaches to invite students that would want to be captains or leaders of their teams to attend for free,” Butcher said. “That is one of the things I would like to continue”
Although Lamb coached while serving as Athletics Director, Butcher does not have any plans to coach a particular season at the moment, Butcher stated. It would definitely be easier to learn the new position and be able to support the coaches with some flexibility, she added.