Clinton County High School recently hired Brandon Pharis as the new Athletic Director after Nick Irwin turned in his resignation effective after the new year.

Irwin had been Athletic Director at the high school for four years and with playing a large part in being an assistant coach on the boys’ varsity basketball team and head coach of the sixth grade middle school team, Irwin believed it was time to focus on other aspects of the athletic program.

Pharis is no stranger to the athletic program after having been the athletic director at the middle school for several years and being the middle school girls’ coach in years past.

“It’s been good so far,” Pharis said. “Nick has been busy this past week so I haven’t bothered him too much, but Jared (Bertram) has been awesome. Everybody has been great. The good thing about out here is that everything is a well oiled machine. It all runs great.”

Pharis has been telling the coaches in his programs that it’s a two way street.

“I’ve been telling them that if they work hard for their kids then I will work hard for them,” Pharis said. “So far it’s been good. There are a lot of good ideas that are going to take some time.”

During the past couple of years, Bertram has been the Assistant Athletic Director under Irwin. He will assume the same position under Pharis as well.

Most of the work an athletic director does is behind the scenes and happens before an athletic event takes place, including getting tickets together, cutting referees checks, scheduling workers for concessions and making sure the venues are ready for the crowds.

“One thing we are going to work on this year is the football field,” Pharis said. “I know we need to get the field fixed. New PA system, new paint … things like that. A lot of it, where I have a lot of flexibility in my other job, I’m going to be doing a lot of that type stuff. I’m going to be going out and pressure washing and going out and painting, helping them paint the locker room and stuff like that.”

One item still on the agenda for next year is looking into the boys’ soccer program.

Last season, the boys’ soccer program had to be suspended due to lack of participation or interest. Pharis said he wants to look into a feeder program and try to build from the ground up on the soccer program.

“Since it’s a contact sport, there are a lot of kids who want to play, but they can only play up to the junior varsity level in eighth grade,” Pharis said. “I talked with Mike Davis the other day, who is working with the SKY Sports, and said we needed to try and plan out the future of Clinton County athletics and work together and get something put together for all sports.”

Much like anything else, building something takes time, according to Pharis.

“I would like to see the facilities updated, more involvement, better work with feeder programs from elementary on up,” Pharis said. “I want to help varsity coaches out in the long run.”

Pharis said he also wants to start a more aggressive social media campaign and have more student involvement with that process.

“They are doing a pretty good job with the cameras and stuff in the gym and I would like to get to where we are doing a live feed,” Pharis said. “We have the technology for it. We want to get them exposure.”

With starting his job in the middle of the year, Pharis said he is excited to get start and is looking forward to all the possibilities that can come in the future for Clinton County athletics.

As far as the rest of this season is concerned, he said he wants to see how this year plays out and evaluate what went right and see what needs to be changed for next year.

“We need to see what is doing well and what needs to change … things like that,” Pharis said. “I was kind of approached about taking the position and I thought about it and I prayed about. At the end of the day, it’s about what’s best for the kids. There is a need for it, so I decided to see what I can do with it.”