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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels August 6, 2004 Kemper reaches Ashland, goal Ashland High School's new athletic director, Karl Kemper, sat down with Ashland Daily Tidings Sports Editor Joe Zazala recently to talk about himself, his new job and his vision for the AHS athletics department. Kemper, 38, has been involved in high school sports for the last 15 years, but never as an athletic director. Questions and answers were edited for brevity. ADT: What do you do when you're not pulling the strings at Ashland High? New Grizz Athletic Director Karl Kemper visits with his oldest son. Jordan, almost 2, came to visit Kemper in his new office at Ashland High on Thursday. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings Kemper: I've got a wife and two young kids. I've got a son who's going to be 2 next month and another son who's three months old - his name's Jackson, so they even named the county after him - so that occupies a lot of my time. As far as other than family, I'm really into fitness activities, running and swimming. I like to read a lot, and not just sports stuff. I'm really into American history. I just finished a book on Lewis and Clark and I'm reading one on Benjamin Franklin right now. ADT: How do you feel about being a first-time athletic director? Kemper: I am excited about it. It's kind of my career goal. I graduated with a degree in teaching and health, and then I went straight to graduate school and got a master's degree in sports management. It's has kind of always been what I wanted to do. ADT: What do you think of your new home so far? Kemper: I love the diversity of Ashland. The impression I've got from this community is, you're free to be who you want to be as long as you're not hurting anybody, and I'm OK with that. It seems like people are extremely friendly, extremely supportive of the school and athletics. The activities levy, that's a model for other districts. Where I come from, when people heard of it, they said, "When you get there, give us that information - we want to know how they're doing that." It's very unique and it says a lot about the community. They understand the power of participation. I just did a conference, and these statistics aren't going to be exact but they were talking about CEO's of Fortune 500 companies and something like over 90 percent of them had been involved with extracurricular activities when they were in school and only 40 percent of them were National Honor Society members when they were in school. I don't want you to quote that I'm bashing the National Honor Society - what I'm saying is that there is research that shows that one of the biggest predictors of success as an adult is to be involved in some extracurricular activity, not necessarily athletics. ADT: In your opinion, what is the primary responsibility of an athletic director? Kemper: To provide opportunities for as many kids as possible to have a positive experience in extracurricular activities, and I see athletics as an extension of the educational program. It's not separate. Athletics, to me, is the one place in the schools where you can simulate real life situations. It puts kids in highly emotionally charged situations where they're experiencing great success and great thrills. There's a lot of peaks and valleys that you can't get in the regular classroom. If you have a tough day in athletics, then you gotta find a second life. If something bad happens, you lose a game, you've got to find a way to get up and regroup the next day and come back from it. ADT: Ashland High has a dwindling student base, but continues to add club sports. What do you think about that trend? Kemper: Well to me, I think there's something for everyone and the most important thing we do is provide opportunities for everyone and I think I'll just leave it at that. I don't want to go on record and say, "Winning doesn't matter," but to me, honestly, the most important thing we can do is to provide opportunities for as many kids as possible to participate in. ADT: If Ashland High's student numbers plummet enough, as expected, to qualify the school for Class 3A status, will AHS consider dropping down from its current 4A level? Kemper: It would be a group decision. I've been at a school before (Banks High) where it was looked at and the process was, they talked to people in the community and a committee put together a (group) of coaches and we all voted and people didn't want to drop down. ADT: What is the biggest challenge facing you at Ashland High? Kemper: Well, for me one of the biggest challenges is going to be getting a handle on the budget. It's a lot of money and it's a lot of responsibility. It's unique. I mean, there's no other school that I'm aware of that's got this type of funding, dealing with the levy that's run through Parks and Rec and the school district and is separate from the general fund. So that's going to be a big challenge. You know, keeping quality coaches involved in athletics anymore is a big thing. There are several positions that are open right now and more people are leaving the coaching profession than are coming in. A lot of qualified people are leaving because there's a lot of burnout. The job has gotten to be so big. It's a year-round job now. There's just so many issues we didn't deal with 10 or 20 years ago, and they don't make much money. Coaches are starting to look at it and weight it and say, "It's not worth it anymore." ADT: Speaking of open coaching positions, how is the search for a new girls' basketball coach going? Kemper: We've got some interested people, but we don't have a full-time teaching job to offer them. We've turned away some quality candidates who are interested in the job, but they've got to have a teaching job if they're going to move their family. ADT: What will happen if nobody is found before the start of the season? Would you coach the team? Kemper: We'll find somebody. ADT: What qualities do you look for in a coach? Kemper: Somebody that's coaching for the right reasons, and the right reasons are they care about kids, they want to work with kids, they want to educate kids on how to be good people and help them to be successful in an adult world. Being competitive is important, but if their whole focus is win at all costs, you're not going to treat kids correctly. We're looking for someone who cares about the kids, who's in it for the right reasons and wants what's best for the kids. ADT: When you evaluate coaches, how important is their win-loss record? Kemper: Success isn't necessarily measured in wins and losses. A coach is only as good as his or her talent. A good coach is going to get the most out of the ability of the kids they have and sometimes that means two wins and sometimes that means 20 wins in a basketball season. You have to have a certain knowledge level of your sport and the kids have to be prepared to compete with their opponents and there has to be a certain level of understanding and instruction, definitely. We wouldn't hire somebody who didn't have that. But, from there you just look at whether the kids are learning and growing as people, and if they are then the coach is doing a good job. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. 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