Ricky James Pellegrin
December 17, 2013
Anna Marie Reed
December 26, 2013
Vandebilt Catholic High School has tapped one of its longest tenured coaches to be the school’s interim athletic director.
The school issued a news release last week announcing that veteran head softball coach Margaret Johnson will be the Terriers’ AD through the remainder of the school year.
Johnson is the third person to take over the position at the school in the past few months. Former AD Laury Dupont started the school year as AD, but resigned after being arrested this past fall on a DWI charge. In Dupont’s absence, principal James Reiss handled the job for more than two months before handing the duties to Johnson, who said she is excited for the opportunity to help coordinate the “school she loves.”
“It’s definitely a new challenge for me. It’s going to require a lot of time, energy and commitment on my part, but I’m looking forward to it,” Johnson said. “Sometimes when you have a new challenge, it makes you re-commit and re-dedicate yourself to what you’re doing. We have a lot of great people here. This is a great school. I think all-in-all, this will go great.”
This will be the second time Johnson serves in an administrative position for the Terriers’ athletic department.
Vandebilt’s multi-time state champion softball coach said she served as an athletic administrator in the late 1990s under former AD Reed Pere. During that time, Johnson said she learned some of the ins and outs of the trade – a lot of the same tools she will be using in her current position.
“I worked the football games and did a lot of the membership stuff with the LHSAA – just a lot of computer work,” Johnson said. “I helped a lot with the gates at games. This job is hard to do with one person, but I’m fortunate to have a little bit of experience in some of the aspects of it.”
Johnson said that the decision to become interim AD was the idea of school administration. She said that she was approached about the idea a few weeks ago, but that she didn’t immediately accept because of her commitment to the Terriers’ softball program.
But once Johnson concluded that she could do both jobs to the best of her ability, she accepted the position. Her first official day was Dec. 9.
“This was a big decision for me because softball is right around the corner,” Johnson said. “I’m the type that when I take a job, I’m all-in. I didn’t ever want to be in a position where I couldn’t do my best in either position. It’s going to be difficult when softball starts, but I’m going to try my best to give 100 percent to both titles. I know that we have coaches on staff that have reached out and have told me that if there’s anything I need, they’ll be glad to help. When you have quality people like that around, everything becomes much easier.”
So with her new job underway, Johnson said she is already focused on making sure Vandebilt progresses in the rest of the school year. She said that she is in the process of meeting with all of the school’s coaches to get a sense of some of the ways they believe the school can get better.
After that process is complete, Johnson said she will be very hands-on with making sure that all of the Terriers’ spring athletes are eligible for competition through the LHSAA.
Eligibility issues have plagued the school in the last 12 months, as both the school’s football and girls’ basketball teams have had to forfeit games because of the use of ineligible players.
“My first priority is eligibility,” Johnson said. “We have sports coming up in the spring, and we’ve got to make sure we get every, single one of those kids registered with the LHSAA and that we get our rosters sent in and that we’re all good to go there.”
Johnson will also be the Vandebilt AD during the team’s search for a new head football coach to replace departed former coach Brad Villavaso. Johnson said the school has hired a search committee to assist in the search, adding that applications will be accepted for the position until after Christmas.
Johnson said that she and the school administration have “a set of core values in mind” that they expect the new coach to have. But she wouldn’t elaborate any further except saying that the job will likely yield a lot of applicants.
“We’re hoping to hire somebody in early February,” Johnson said. “We have a committee going and we are expecting the job to draw a lot of interest.”
So it’s certainly going to be a busy set of months for Johnson as she settles into her new digs. But she said her only focus is progression and leading Vandebilt forward toward a brighter future.
“We’re going to just try and raise the bar a little bit,” Johnson said. “I truly love athletics, and I truly Vandebilt. I’ve been here as a student and as a coach for almost 30 years now. There’s not too much that I wouldn’t do for this school.
“I’m not going to be perfect at this. No human will be. But I always set the bar high for myself and I think that I can do good things for our school.”
