One crossed multiple time zones. One criss-crossed the state. One moved down the hall.
Three of the seven athletic director jobs in the 2A Evergreen Conference opened up in June, and three new faces took three very different roads to get to the area.
Now Tom Elder, Jordan Magrath, and Nikki Nelson have a short handful of weeks to settle into their new roles at W.F. West, Tumwater, and Black Hills, respectively, before things ramp up to hectic levels.
“It hasn’t felt too overwhelming yet,” Elder said with a bit of a laugh. “But I know it’s coming.”
His transition may be the simplest, taking over for Jeff Johnson after nine years as an assistant principal and ASB advisor in Chehalis. Before that, Elder had spent seven years as a science teacher at W.F. West.
He also has coaching experience for the Bearcats, leading the baseball team to a 42-9 record in two seasons and a 2A state title in 2013.
“I think all of those experiences will help,” he said. “I’ve really had a chance as an assistant principal to work with our coaches and talk with them about how things are going. I feel like I have a really good rapport with them from my previous role, so I’m hoping to just continue that and build on those relationships and grow from there.”
Up north, both high schools in the Tumwater School District are also welcoming new leaders.
Jordan Magrath first visited Tumwater as a senior at Lynden High School in 2006, when the Lions beat W.F. West in a 2A state football quarterfinal. (For the record, they went on to beat Tumwater and Centralia en route to the title.) Since then, Magrath has bounced back and forth between Yelm and Pullman, where he worked as a teacher and athletic department assistant at 2B Colfax while his wife attended WSU for a veterinary program.
After coming back from eastern Washington for the second time, Magrath and his family settled back in Thurston County, and he returned to Yelm for a year. When Tim Graham announced his retirement after three decades at Tumwater, Magrath applied and got the job in a place he’s excited to put down roots.
“It’s got the perfect blend of everything when it comes to size and community support,” he said. “And success is part of that, but I think it’s a byproduct of the community.”
Tumwater might be going with a Washington lifer in Magrath, but across the highway at Black Hills, they’re going with a different approach. Nikki Nelson comes to the Pacific Northwest from Texas, where she was the athletic director of the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District, managing the athletic departments of six high schools — all but one of which would be classified as 4As in Washington — and six junior highs outside of Houston.
Nelson said she and her family decided to move to Washington last year but didn’t know where exactly they wanted to be. Thurston County was originally just a place they planned on staying on the way to other areas, but soon became a focus point, especially when the BHHS athletic director job opened up.
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t think it was in the realm of possibility,” Nelson said. “I was totally prepared to go back to teaching and coaching, maybe be an assistant principal. But the AD job popped up and I thought, ‘Well, it’s not going to hurt to hit the button.’”
An application and an interview later, and Nelson was offered the job. She moved up with her family in June, getting the crash course in Washington life before the school year starts.
And when it does, she’s excited to only have one set of colors to wear.
“It was hard to be in a district where we spent most of the season playing against each other, because you could never really celebrate victories, because they’d beaten a different team,” Nelson said. “I’m excited to get to root for Black Hills, and to get to know the kids, and to be part of the staff family. I think that’ll be the biggest thing, and it’s what I’m most looking forward to.”
