Another high school athletic director change, as NK's Stanford returns to teaching

One of Matt Stanford's favorite memories serving as North Kitsap High School's athletic director is the Vikings capturing the Class 2A softball championship this spring.

Stanford watched the title game at Carlon Park in Selah while leaning against a fence along the first-base line. After North Kitsap's 8-1 win over Ridgefield, Stanford was called upon to present the first-place trophy to Vikings head coach Clay Blackwood and his players.

It turned out to be Stanford's final appearance at a North Kitsap sporting event. He's stepping away as athletic director after eight years and transitioning to the classroom, where he'll teach math, health and physical education at Poulsbo Middle School beginning next fall.

While overseeing what has arguably become the top high school athletic program in West Sound and one of the top 2A programs in the state, Stanford consistently served North Kitsap's coaches and athletes without the desire to take a lot of credit.

"He's done a great job in my opinion," North Kitsap football and baseball coach Jeff Weible said. "I felt really supported. He's always had our backs."

“It’s about giving the kids the best experience possible," Stanford said. "If I get to watch it on the sidelines, all the better.”

Ahn Tran will replace Stanford as North Kitsap's athletic director. Tran previously coached girls golf at the high school.

Stanford joined North Kitsap in 2015 after serving as a teacher, coach and middle school athletic director in the Central Kitsap School District. He departs as the one of the longest-serving high school athletic directors in West Sound, behind only Nate Andrews, Olympic High School's athletic director since 2008. Andrews and Stanford, who previously coached baseball together with the Trojans, provided experience to a contingent of Olympic League athletic directors that has seen quite the turnover recently.

"Matt will be missed, especially as we have added a lot of very new and green ADs to our system across the board the past few years," Andrews said. "The high turnover in the position is definitely a concern. We were fortunate to have him for the years that we did. He made our league better."

In the past three years, new athletic directors have been hired at Kingston (Ed Call, 2020), Klahowya (Geniqua Harris, 2021), Bremerton (Amber Plummer, 2021), South Kitsap (Lindsey Foster, 2021), Bainbridge (Luke Ande, 2022), Central Kitsap (Rob Clements, 2022) and North Mason (Ray Bonnell, 2022). Crosspoint Academy also recently hired girls basketball coach Jenny Kuske to replace athletic director Dennis Sheline, who retired after the 2022-23 school year.

Stanford said the decision to step down as North Kitsap's athletic director came down to the time he found himself spending away from family. His daughter is entering 11th grade and his son is entering eighth grade and both are student-athletes in the North Kitsap School District.

“When I first started, I really thought I would do this until they both graduate," Stanford said. "I think COVID obviously put a strain on what everybody was doing. That was sort of the start of the re-evaluation: 'Is it really worth the loss of family time to do this? Am I really going to make that much of an impact that is has to be me and it couldn’t be somebody else?' That’s what the last couple years has been, really more of a refocus of what’s best for me as a family person.”

Juggling extra responsibilities often come for athletic directors of winning high school programs — and the Vikings have had plenty of league champions and deep playoff performers in recent years. Take the most recent spring season. During the final week of competition in May, Stanford kept tabs on baseball, softball, boys soccer, boys and girls tennis, and track and field because North Kitsap had state qualifiers in each sport.

“I felt it just came with the territory," Stanford said. "If the problem was doing extra work because of success, the other could be extra work because of repeated failures. It’s give or take. Obviously I’d rather be on the sidelines in the playoffs than having to be in the office and doing background checks on coaching candidates all the time.

“The easiest part for me was the fact I always had awesome building support," Stanford continued. "I was never feeling like I was doing everything by myself. When times were tough, it was, 'OK, team effort, let's get together and see what we need to do.'”

Stanford said some of the sporting events that stand out as top moments during his tenure were this spring's softball championship, the boys basketball team winning state in Yakima in 2020 and the football team's second-place state finish in 2022.

There were other moments that were more low-key with little fanfare, such as this year's district girls golf tournament, where Abbey Smart played at the Cedars at Dungeness in Sequim.

"Being able to walk the course with our golfer and be another cheering supporter," Stanford said. "That meant something to her. That's exactly what the point of doing this is."

Stanford, who plans to assist Tran during the transition process, said he'll continue to be a supporter of North Kitsap athletics. With his daughter planning to play soccer for the Vikings in the fall, expect to see him at Vikings Stadium in his new role.

“Those first few soccer games when I’m sitting in the stands or possibly working the ticket booth as a parent instead of as an employee," Stanford said, "will definitely be something to get used to."

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Stanford stepping away as North Kitsap High School athletic director