As South Whidbey High School’s days wind to a close, so do they for athletic director Kelly Kirk.
Kirk, who took over the assistant principal and athletic director position in the 2013-14 school year, is leaving for a similar position at Vashon Island High School. The departure was necessitated by family needs, he said.
“My family still lives in Tacoma and I stay up here during the week,” said Kirk, who has two daughters. “Our plan originally was to move up this way; some other family considerations came up. It wasn’t going to be practical.”
“Other than that, I hate to go,” he added. “The school’s great, kids are great, John’s a great guy to work for, Dr. Moccia’s great.”
Having left the Federal Way School District, Kirk sought out the South Whidbey job for a lower-key position at a school with high-percentage student participation in extracurriculars. Just under half of the student body, 214 out of 470, played a sport this spring.
High numbers of students engaging in activities such as sports and clubs was a reflection of the coaches and advisors, Kirk said.
“The coaches down here are so professional and really dedicated to their sport, really passionate about it,” he said. “The results showed, especially in the spring.”
This spring sport season, all of the programs reached the postseason and only one missed out on the statewide competition.
Kirk jokingly said he told Principal John Patton that it was entirely because of the athletic department’s oversight.
“Like I keep telling John, ‘It was superior athletic directing,’ ” he laughed.
“More than anything, I’ve been along for the ride,” he later added. “I realized pretty quickly when I got here that the coaches were so good I just needed to get out of the way and just make sure they had buses and officials.”
Under his watch, the school district replaced the track surface which was unsuitable for competition in the 2013-14 school year. This year saw the first track and field meet at Waterman’s Field in more than 12 months.
Ahead for the district, said Kirk, is a likely decision about whether to replace the grass field with an artificial turf. In the South Whidbey High School’s eight-school athletics and activities league, the Cascade Conference, only Lakewood and South Whidbey have grass fields for football and soccer.
In his time at South Whidbey High School, Kirk oversaw a pair of key hires.
One of his first coaching tasks was the selection of the football coach, which went to former collegiate and now professional coach Chris Tormey. His stint lasted only a year as the allure of a professional job with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League proved too strong and he left South Whidbey this spring.
Kirk also hired Michael Washington Sr. to coach the boys basketball team. Washington was a local choice after coaching Oak Harbor High School’s boys team for the past several years.
Other changes for the school’s athletic department include a new football coach and a new girls golf head coach. Kirk confirmed that longtime girls golf head coach Tom Sage submitted his resignation.
An asset for South Whidbey is the longevity of its coaching staff. Sage had coached for a decade, as have many Falcon coaches.
“The thing that kills a program is lack of continuity,” Kirk said.
