2 long-time directors of athletics retiring at the end of this school year
It is the end of an era at a couple of area high schools.
Two long-time directors of athletics are retiring.
Mark Aschenbrenner at Sarasota High and Brian Nolan at Charlotte High announced their retirements effectively at the end of the 2022 school year.
Both made huge impacts on their respective schools’ athletics programs.
Aschenbrenner spent 35 years at Sarasota, 34 as an assistant baseball coach and eight as an assistant football coach.
On the diamond, Aschenbrenner assisted Clyde Metcalf, who also stepped down at the end of this past season after 41 years. Aschenbrenner was part of six state titles in 1987, ’89, ’93, ’94, ’96 and 2007.
On the gridiron, Aschenbrenner served under both Tom Whitehurst and Eddie Howell, who the Sailors’ new gym is named after.
Aschenbrenner also was the assistant director of athletics for 10 years under Metcalf and eight years as the AD.
Arriving at Sarasota High as a speech pathologist teacher, Ashcenbrenner spent 19 years in the field, 11 as the testing coordinator and five teaching physical education.
Shane Ahles, a teacher and baseball coach at Sarasota High, has been selected to replace Aschenbrenner.
In his 38 years in the school system, Nolan spent the past 36 at Charlotte High. He was the director of athletics for the past 22 years.
During that time, the Tarpons won 102 district titles, 31 regional titles, 7 state team runner-ups, 7 state team champions and 47 individual state champs.
Before replacing Wally Keller as AD, Nolan was the boys basketball coach, compiling a 97-84 record before Tom Massolio took over.
Massolio stepped down as Charlotte basketball coach after 25 seasons and will replace Nolan as the AD.
Charlotte High named the soccer field after Nolan a few years ago.
Dennis Maffezzoli is the deputy sports editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and chief reporter for Sarasota Herald-Tribune and HTpreps covering Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties. Support local journalism by subscribing.
Follow @maffsports on Twitter
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: 2 long-time directors of athletics retiring at the end of this school year
