'It’s really about the kids': Kevin Mahoney juggles Quincy and North Quincy AD jobs

QUINCY − Being an athletic director at a high school is no easy task.

Kevin Mahoney does the job at two schools.

When Athletic Director J.J. Niamkey left North Quincy High to take the same position at Norwell late last summer, Mahoney, the Quincy High director, stepped up. He's been manning both posts all school year.

“A lot to balance between both but doing the best I can,” said Mahoney. “I've got a lot of great help around me. I've got two assistant directors (Matt Rodriguez and Dan Gould), one at each school, that have been very helpful for me. Now we’re lucky to have two full-time athletic trainers (Steve Garofalo and Brendan Ganno). I have good people around me. It has been a lot, but it’s been a fun experience too.”

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Mahoney also thanked both principals, Quincy's Keith Ford and North Quincy's Daniel Gilbert, for the opportunity and for believing in him.

Mahoney's duties include hiring coaches, scheduling games and practices, ordering equipment and plenty more.

“It’s a lot,” said Niamkey. “When you think of the scope of it, he has close to 3,000 students. In any season he probably has 600 kids playing a certain sport, so it’s a lot to manage, especially with both schools.

“Kev’s a super-organized AD, he’s very on top of it, so I know he’s going to do a great job."

So far, Mahoney has been keeping his head above water. Last month, he was the statewide recipient of the Ted Damko Award at the Massachusetts Secondary Schools Athletic Directors Association Conference. The award recognizes an athletic director with less than five years of experience making a big impact in their community.

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Mahoney was raised in Quincy and attended BC High before graduating from Quinnipiac University. He grew up playing Quincy town sports.

He accepted the North Quincy job about a week before the football season began. So far, there have been two new coaching hires for Quincy High.

Matt Ramponi was recently announced as Quincy's new boys basketball coach. He previously coached the North Quincy girls team. In February, Quincy hired ex-Patriots player Vernon Crawford as the school's new football coach.

“I know Coach Ramponi (has) been at North and now he’s at Quincy and (we’re) fortunate to have him on the staff. Same with football," said Mahoney. “(Former Quincy football coach Kevin) Carey’s done an awesome job, but (we're) lucky to have Vernon Crawford come in and hopefully take us into another level."

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Now the most important question: Whom does Mahoney root for when the Presidents and Raiders meet head to head?

“The Quincy/North games I stay very neutral,” he said with a chuckle. “There’s a reason why I wore gray during Thanksgiving, try to stay as neutral as possible.”

Much like his job, everything is surrounded by high expectations at both schools, but he’s enjoying every minute of it.

“Obviously, you've got the Quincy girls basketball team that makes the tournament and North Quincy boys (basketball), they had a tremendous year,” said Mahoney. “Right now, (North Quincy boys) volleyball, I’m excited to jump on the train ride with them and hopefully they can go back where they left back last year and take home a state title.”

It’s easy to get caught up in the roaring fans, chasing down students for jerseys, and rivalry games, but for Mahoney his reasoning for taking the job was always clear.

“It’s really about the kids, at the end of the day,” said Mahoney. “It's one big city and I’m trying to give the kids in Quincy the best experience of their high school career.”

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Kevin Mahoney busy as Quincy and North Quincy High's athletic director