Brian Daniels is stepping into the role of Athletic Director at Oak Hill High School in Wales. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal
WALES — Brian Daniels has been a part of the Oak Hill community his whole life.
The 2013 Oak Hill High School graduate played two sports for the Raiders — lacrosse and football — and he has worked as a physical education/health teacher at the high school since he graduated from Husson University in 2017.
Daniels’ nephews also play multiple sports for Oak Hill.
Now, Daniels assumes the athletic director position at his alma mater, taking over for Jim Palmer, who was AD when Daniels was an athlete.
“He took over as AD one of my last years in high school, so it’s neat to see him in that role and then work alongside him now,” Daniels said.
Over the last couple of years, Daniels has become even more involved in athletics at Oak Hill. He became an assistant football coach two years ago, and he also helped on the administration side of things.
“I always had aspirations to get into administration,” Daniels said. “Over the last couple years, (Palmer) had asked for help with coverage of games here and there, and on top of that I also coached football at the high school. So, it kind of gave me a little bit of insight into the administrator role.”
Daniels has learned his fair share from Palmer, who headed a successful Raiders athletic program for the past 11 years, highlighted by three straight Class D football state titles from 2013-2015 and a Class C field hockey state championship in 2016.
“It was really cool to learn from him, not only from a player perspective but also from a colleague,” Daniels said. “We had conversations over the years about what it means to be AD and that role.”
“He’s about as good as they come, working with kids and with athletes,” Daniels added. “He kind of embodies the whole aspect of coaching and what athletics does for your community, the athletes and the students.”
And Daniels knows, too, that he’ll be able to impact far more kids in an athletic director role as opposed to his previous teacher and coaching positions.
“As a coach, you see athletics as the specific sport you’re reaching into. But as an AD, you’re like a coaches’ coach,” Daniels said. “So it broadens your eyes to what athletics can do and seeing the value in athletics. Taking that step to an AD really broadens my reach and impact that many more kids and help them grow.”
WHAT’S ON THE AGENDA?
The first order of business for Daniels is continuing the process of renovating multiple fields at the high school.
“We have a couple big field projects going on at the high school,” Daniels said. “We just converted our old softball field to a field hockey field, and we’re in the process of building a new softball field.
“Those are some pretty big projects coming in. They’re taking a lot of time and are pretty interesting from a new AD perspective. Building fields is not something that typically every AD does. So it’s been a unique perspective to dive into.”
But the process is going as planned, according to Daniels, with a healthy push from the community.
“There’s been a lot of community input and a lot of community drive to make it happen,” Daniels said. “We want to make sure the facilities are playable for the upcoming seasons.”
In addition to building new fields, Daniels wants to tackle the problem of low participation.
“A couple of programs, numbers are down,” Daniels said. “So just making sure our programs are healthy and strong, and getting that development and the rec kids involved, and getting our kids and coaches involved in our rec programs.”
How will he do that, though? Well, Daniels has a plan, and it’s already in action.
“The biggest thing is getting involved. Kids want to be active and enjoy athletics,” Daniels said. “We’re trying to get rec programs done over the summer, and I applaud a lot of my coaches who were super successful in that this summer. Getting some of our student athletes to work with the young kids is important.”
“There’s nothing better when you’re an elementary or middle school kid and you’re looking up to those high school players and seeing how they do things and getting instruction directly from them. It gives them that aspiration that they’re going to play there one day on those fields,” Daniels added. “So I think a big part is getting our athletes involved and allowing them to help the younger kids grow.”
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