NORWICH – Faculty resources have been redirected within the Norwich City School district as the position of athletic director falls vacant once again.
The position has seen an array of different faces over the past year and a half and has had no long-term director since 2000. Most recently, Dean Veenhoff served as athletic director for only two months before administrators say he left following a personnel decision. Veenhoff was hired on to serve as interim director while the district found a permanent replacement. Before coming to Norwich, Veenhoff had recently retired from nearby Gilbertsville-Mt. Upton central school.
Veenhoff says as interim director, his contract made was open-ended and it could either be terminated by the administration or himself.
Veenhoff said he does not know why the district cannot seem to retain a long-term athletic director and said he did not want to comment any further as to why he left. “It was a mutual agreement that I left when I did,” he said.
Before Veenhoff took over, there had been a handful of other figures in the director’s role. Jack Jones had served as director for 11 years and has now come back to serve as consultant for the department. New high school principal Tom Knapp formerly held the AD role.
“We have a lot of residual knowledge throughout the buildings and a lot of veteran coaches that all help out in different ways,” Superintendent Gerard O’Sullivan said. “The only thing we are seriously lacking is a go-to person and that is not good.” He said the athletic director is responsible for things happening in all four buildings and without stability in the department, the small things needing attention often get overlooked which results in a coordinating problem.
O’Sullivan said the position will hopefully be filled in a timely manner, but the process takes time. The position has been posted and the interviewing process does not have a set starting date.