Sierra High School Athletic Director, Bob Bentley, was kind of enough to take some time and talk about his high school, how he manages a very busy schedule, and how he uses technology to run an extremely successful Athletic Department.
| Tell us about yourself. I have been working Sierra for 10 years now. I was a history teacher and baseball coach for 7 years before landing the job as Athletic Director 3 years ago. I am a native of Colorado and attended Sierra HS as a student, graduating in 2003. I have my B.A. in Political Science and M.A. in History. What makes Sierra HS special? Sierra is special because of our diversity. We have one of the most diverse populations of students in Colorado and that plays into our uniqueness when it comes to academics and athletics. The students who attend Sierra are down to earth and real. How do you manage your time on day to day basis? I manage my time everyday by making lists and completing them. I treat my email inbox like a to-do list and practice the concept of inbox zero. I make sure I go home everyday by checking off my to-do list and getting my inbox to zero emails. How has technology changed what you do over the past couple years? Technology is a game changer in the world of high school athletics. When I started coaching 10 years ago we did all of our required paperwork with actual paper. Now we operate in a digital world with all our forms and physicals being turned in online to ease the clearing process and ensuring we don’t miss kids. When it comes to social media and our website, I have been pushing everything we do out on there as the main way to communicate with students and parents. That is the world we live in now and were everyone gets their information so we have to adapt. What is the biggest challenge you face on a day to day basis? Trying to balance my duties as an AD with other duties that have been assigned to me as an administrator like teacher observations and the occasional discipline of students. It is easy to get lost in the athletic side and missing the other duties as an administrator in my building. You guys have done a great job aligning with VNN’s mission, connecting communities through sport. Why do you think that is? VNN is such an easy platform to communicate with students and parents. Making sure I highlight our students and post pictures goes a long way with our parents, community, and alumni base. They tell me all the time that they love seeing the stories and the pictures on gostallionsports.com. The best thing we can do is showcase the talent of our amazing students. Anything else that you want to share with us. Being an athletic director can be challenging, but in the end there are so many rewards and with VNN it just makes the job easier! BIG thank you to Sierra High School and Bob Bentley for giving us and everyone else an inside look at how they run their Athletic Department! |