Santa Maria High School has a new athletic director with plans to take competition to a new level.
“Athletics here have always had a good reputation and history,” incoming AD Brian Wallace said in a press release. “We have the talent, pride, and potential, and my expectation is that we will just get better and better.”
Wallace is taking over for Joe Graack, who was transferred to Ernest Righetti High School—Graack took over for AD Eric Albright. At Santa Maria High, Wallace will be responsible for a department that contains more than 700 athletes and 80 coaches.
He has been an assistant coach and coach in a variety of sports at Santa Ynez and Cabrillo high schools for more than 20 years. He was previously the AD at Santa Ynez High, where he managed 300 athletes and 15 coaches, guided boys and girls in track and cross country, and coached wrestling and football.
Students who participate in athletics gain valuable life skills, according to Wallace, and he believes there is a direct correlation between success in athletics and success in academics.
“You can’t do well if your team does not do well. It teaches students to never give up. If you stop, you lose, and that’s the same as in life,” Wallace said in the release. “By the time these student athletes graduate, only 1 percent will play varsity sports in college. But every student can go to college and be successful academically.”
This article appears in Aug 14-21, 2014.
