Mike Dunphy: Opening a new school in Wake County is a unique opportunity Subject:* A friend wanted you to see this item from High School OT: https://wr.al/1JyGe Longtime Cary High School athletic director Mike Dunphy spoke with Nick Stevens about his decision to leave the school after more than two decades to become the athletic director at the soon-to-be newly opened Willow Spring High School in southern Wake County. Show Transcript Hello, everybody. Welcome to high school OTM Nick Stevens. And we've got Mike Dunphy, who is currently the athletic director at Carry High School, soon to be the athletic director at Willow Spring. He was named the a D. There, uh, this morning on. That's the newest high school in Wake County. Coach Duffy. Thanks for joining us. Um, I have to ask this question. I've known you for several years. Yeah, I don't think I would have ever thought you would leave. Carried high school. How hard of a decision was that to make? It was difficult. It was difficult. 20. You know, I've been in education for 24 years. One year in Massachusetts. Um, Smithfield Academy. Small little. My first year teaching was in middle school slash high school. 73 12, 147 kids. Right. Came down here in North Carolina immediately in Wake County at East Carrot Middle School. Um, you know, left and came back. Did a couple years of college coaching, but 21 years at carry high school, Um, is, uh, you know, it's a long time. I mean, two decades. Um, you know, I did have that little bit of a break, you know, in 2006 when we went to Pittsburgh, But, um, it's been tremendous. You know, the friends that I've met over the years, Um, from alumni to people, Um, coaching friends, uh, students who? You know, I you know, you're there long enough. Now that you have students who used to teaches their Children are now at your high school, right? And so, um, it's it's it's been a fantastic voyage for me. Love carry high school. I love the community of Kerry. They've been very good. Thio my family and I, um, even though we resided in the Green Hope district for the last 13 years, Um, you know, my Children chose to come to carry high school because we were carry family. Um, you know, the most rewarding thing I've been able to experience is having my Children come through carry high school. Um, they loved they loved their experience at the school. Um, you know, they were glad that they came here, um, to be with me and kind of have to have them on campus with me for pretty much the better part of seven years. From the time Quinn came in 13 14 until Josie graduated a year ago. Um, it's been It's been a ride and it's been exciting. I've learned a lot. I've done a lot of really great things. I think I've hired some really good coaches. We've had a lot of success athletically at carry under my tenure there, Um and it was hard. I know when I interview with Mr Williams, I told him that I don't I'm not one toe and, you know, you know me as long as you have I'm not one to be shy or bashful or I don't usually get nervous or stressed out about stuff. But I did tell them that the one thing I was gonna be the most nervous about was, um tell me, my coaches that I was leaving. Um, it's sad because I've developed a really great relationship. I've hired most of them. I love my coaching staff over carry high school. Um, and when I had a meeting with them on Tuesday during a teacher worked and let them know I was leaving, um, you know, obviously they were excited for me and for my family, but, you know, they're always be disappointed because, you know, you're just in your mind you're thinking Okay, well, this is what we're doing this spring, and that's what's happened this summer. And then next, you know, you just into the regular routine of, you know, dumpy Zetia carry. And that's kind of sort of how it's going to be, right. Um, But for me, in an area here in Wake County where we've been growing so much the ability to open a new school, um, of this magnitude at this size classification in the level that Wake County offers athletics, you know, if you look at the number of individual and team state championships that come out of Wake County on a yearly basis, um, you know it za pretty staggering high number and you know, to be able to start a program at the ground level where you literally, literally will have a clean slate. You know, once a fuckwit Verena that's in the school right now moves out of here. I mean, we literally will have a clean slate to work with on DSO to be able to help Mr Williams and his assistant principals, you know, higher good teachers and coaches, people that are good mentors, um, is has always been, uh, professionally, something I've wanted to dio I just feel like Kerry. I've been on the other side of it, right? I mean, Carrie is, like, the oldest high school in North Carolina on, and, you know, we've got over 100 years of alumni, you know, and I'm coming to a program where I get to take a lot of what I've learned and apply that to a new school, right? And in five years and six years and 10 years, um, be able to help promote the alumni the same way we've kind of done it, carry high school, and so, you know, it throws a lot of challenges, but I just feel like with my own Children being in college now, finishing up my 11th year, Kerry I just felt it was a good time to, you know, throw my name in the hat, because again, you don't know if you're gonna get the job or not. But, you know, you hope that your references and your body of work overtime, um speaks for itself, right? And I think for the most part, that is what led me Thio apply for the job and for Mr Williams to interview me and ultimately select me over the large number of candidates to apply for this position. So yeah. So I think you just touched on, like, every topic that I was trying. That's why I love interviewing you. Because I don't know if that's one question uh, you did kind of mentioned that. You know, Carrie, you're leaving a school with tons of history. Tons is, and and you're going to a school where there's literally none. Uh, What? I mean, what what's that gonna be like for you? Because you're gonna have to start that. Well, here's what. Here's one of the things that I am most excited about. Starting right is because we're on the ground floor, right? Is, um you know, I wasn't I just I think just because I was so busy at Kerry dealing with other issues, mostly around facilities and some other things, um, I just found myself always wanting to, but never really finding that the proper time to be ableto promote and start a, um you know, student run, student leadership academy or, uh, committee. Or, you know, leadership team or something along those lines where you know, the students have buy into all the things that you're doing athletically. Right? Um, I've learned over the years that, um, you know, going to these anti triple A conferences and talking to a D s from different parts of the country in different states. Um, and even in even eighties, in her own, in our own state, in different counties, at different schools Um, you know, that's important, right? And that's something that I really want to start on. Get going From the beginning, I think it's super important that the students and families in the community have buy into all they were doing and will do here at at Willow Spring. And, um, you know, to me, that's kind of where my mind goes initially, Um, you know, the NF h s cameras that we have like, I would love to be able to like some schools are doing right now, you know, promoting, um, you know, again with the student buying is student, you know, commentating on games. And, you know, if you're not an athlete, but you might want to get in broadcasting, you know, we have opportunities now, to do that. Um, I wasn't able to get that going at Kerry. And I think with limited alumni, um, you're only gonna have a couple grade levels. There's a little bit less of everything will afford me more time to be able to focus on starting that from the beginning. So how well, taking this job and leaving the current one in the middle of the mess that is Koven. How is that going to impact things? Because, I mean, you know, I guess you get to see some of the, uh, some of the athletes at school right now, but, you know, and starting Cem in person, learning again. But it's not the same as it has been on. Then you're gonna be entering a school where hopefully everybody's going back to school in person in the fall. But you're starting an athletic program from scratch and in the middle of, you know, a pandemic on like, a century. Here's I was Here's what I would say. First of all, this just kind of just goes to everybody, right? We need to keep doing what we're doing right That that the trending numbers with covert right now we're going exactly where we need them to go. Right? Vaccinations out numbers are much lower than they've been recently. And, you know, I keep saying that to everyone, right? Like practicing three W's outside of school, washing your hands whenever you can. Um, you know, with our athletic teams, right? Any time you take a water break your hand, sanitizing your washing your hands, you're doing all the things you could be doing staying 6 ft apart at all times. Those things are only gonna help, right? And and we've gotten through Nick what we've gotten through, um, finishing up a basketball season, and it's got through a swim season right across country volleyball. You know, we're in the middle of just crazy weather season with outdoor sports, but, um, we're doing it right. And we've had Spectators and, um, ese ums and those who can't command. I've been able to watch the kids play online. Um, I think that one of the things I've always prided myself on Nick is being, uh, innovative forward thinking. Organized, right, Andi, the protocols that we have put in place of the high school which are very similar. What we're all of us a Bs and principles have put together across the county and across the conference, Um, make it much easier, right? And the students and the coaches and the parents have done a great job, a tremendous job from what I've seen the least to carry, um, of following the rules, Um, not giving anyone any grief about it because we don't know how long we're gonna be in this sort of phase, right? You know, we're hoping that by the end of this school year that things will be loosened up enough and under control enough that we could get back Thio what we would consider normal, you know, school year. Athletically, at least we just never know. And so, you know, I don't look at what's going on now as like a huge challenge Just because we've been living it so long Now it just becomes part of us, right? It's just a natural thing. I see someone you know, walking by someone in the hallway or whatever else in the mask is kind of down below the nose. I have to put the mask up. I mean, that's just part of the new normal. Um, you know that the co vid pandemic has caused us to rethink how we do a lot of things. Um, just because we've have thio so things like what we're doing right now, um, Google Classroom and Google meats and paperless tickets and and paperless, uh, turning in physicals and those kind of forms and paperwork. I think this has taught us to, you know, we could be a little more efficient with what we're doing and save us some time on the end, right? So parents don't have to run up to the school, for example, and turn the physical in right. What we're doing to carry, for example, is you're just scanning and emailing it thio une email address. We have set aside for that and the trainers air opening it at their convenience at their home or at work. And, um, you know, it makes the process easier, you know? And so I think there are things that it may look very difficult on the outside, and it is there is little bit more work when it comes to certain things. But, um, you know, I don't look at opening a new school amongst this pandemic as you know, anything That's abnormally hard because we've been living this life, you know, for the last few months, and it's just now become part of us. So we definitely have been living in for a long time now. Most definitely. Way just did a survey on athletic participation. Uh, and that's something that is a huge concern right now across the state. Really? Are you worried about that? No. Brand new school? No. No, I think Listen, I think that the numbers were down across the board and Kerry is It was not immune to that. You know, we've had some programs Where, um, you know, currently, we just We don't have enough girls playing girls across. We don't have a girls. Um, team of full team. We only had, like, barely enough to field of roster a number of players on the on the field. You know, JD girls basketball program. Um, you know, we didn't have enough girls for that. Um, you know, we don't have enough players for J B boys football team, you know, and I can It's not due to anything other than cove it right. And so for me, I think once we kind of get through this. Whenever that may be, we may have another fall season. We were kind of sort of like lingering through may be limping through it. We're not really sure. Um, I don't really foresee this as an issue long term, right? I don't think that anything pertaining to a decrease in a drop in numbers, anything but just due to cove it right. And I have to think back to me as a parent who kids just graduated. My daughter just graduated last year, and if I had a child that was still in school, I would probably have them stay virtual academy. Then That's my own personal choice, right? I think that, um, you know, there's nothing in our family. There's no like, you know, But you have to look at all. They have to look at your own family, and you know you got the way the risks. Because even though the risk is low, there are still on cases of Children and teenagers and teachers onda older adults. And I mean I mean, everyone is reacting to this virus who catches it differently to the point where it could take your life, and it's not easy and I concede, e why parents would be very apprehensive, right? You only have one child. And you know that's not something that you just want to just, you know, throw out there carelessly. Obviously, there's always risks, risks with everything we do in life, right? But I I strongly believe that the numbers that we're seeing are really just because of that, right? I think, like a carry high school specifically, you know, we didn't really have an issue with any other sports. We've always had an issue just with, like the cross and with girls across in general specific going back to that because, um, you know, we've we've had solid number of girls for a varsity team, but we've never been close to having a baby number, right? And so our numbers are just down because of that, and it's we've seen kind of like a we're using, like the 70% numbers where we are at Kerry. We're feeling like the number of kids who are interested but actually kind of come out. You know, it's kind of about sort of a 70% number, right? There are kids that are eager and anticipating coming out and then and I'm just not coming out. I think ultimately, because, um themselves, individually or their families air just worried about, um, Cove it So that's interesting, because that 70% is right around the percentage that we got of schools saying they've seen a decrease. So, um, that might be a figure that everybody needs to look at a little closer. You know, one last question for you kids. They're going to Willow Spring next year, whether they be rising freshman coming out of middle school. Or maybe they're a freshman at fuck way or Holly Springs or Middle Creek. Right now, Um, what should they know about the athletic department? What should they expect from the athletic department when they arrive on campus in the fall? So you know what? I'm obviously what we don't want. There's the unknown right now, right? That we don't know exactly how it's gonna look. We haven't been given guidance from the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. Exactly about how, um how when we can resume summer activities? Uh, you know, I'm just I'm just ah anticipating that would probably be sometime after that normal dead period after july 4th week. Just looking at when all the state championships are kind of late in June, a good starting point for them just to kind of let us get back into off season workouts. Um, and so I feel like you know things. Hopefully, we'll be back to a regular sort of schedule where you'll have volleyball and cross country and football workouts and soccer workouts in the summer on Ben, you know, hopefully it's it's business as usual as far as the normal schedule. Um, we have, you know, a fantastic conference. You know, the High School Association just released the, you know, fourth draft, which in for all intensive purposes, is probably the final draft. Um, you know, our conference has been the same since draft one, so I don't really see our conference changing much. Um, you know, we're bringing in, obviously, the new school Willow spring and then the three Johnson County schools there now for a ride, the Cleveland Clayton and corn holders. And so we're super excited, right? I think that the student athletes and families coming in here are going to know that we're gonna have a coaching staff here that's dedicated to teaching right, And And we're teachers first, but we're mentors, and that's what teachers are. And so, you know, they're gonna learn life lessons through sport. Uh, they're gonna learn to be competitive. We're trying to foster a competitive environment. Obviously, you know, wins and championships are fantastic, but the wind here is that you get to compete and learn and grow as a person. So when you graduate here and, you know from Willow Spring, um, you know, three or four years from now, um, you're just a better person in society, right? You're a better citizen. You're responsible. You're gonna have good, strong work ethic. And, you know, those are things that we're gonna make sure our families know that we're gonna have coaching staffs that are dedicated to that. Right. Um, they're dedicated to, you know, being thoughtful community members caring for each other, you know, caring for your school in your program, which kind of goes back to what I mentioned earlier about Ah, you know, ah, student led leadership council of some kind that allows the kids to kind of buy into their their time here at that will spring. Okay, I lied. 11 last question for you. Has the hiring process started for any of the coaching positions yet? Um, no, we're in the middle of of, you know, posting, uh, teaching positions. E I don't think we've had we've posted any coaching positions yet, Although, um, most people are going to steal that are super eager are gonna start texting me and emailing me or, you know, calling emailing Mr Williams, uh, about interest. And, you know, you know, one of my favorite games that my wife, Melissa, I like to play a lot of like with, like, play Tetris. And, you know, this is what Tetris is basically just like a just a giant moving puzzle, right? And so, um, Mr Williams and I, and the current a PSR we'll do our best we can to to piece together that giant puzzle of teachers and coaches. Um, you know, putting together a You know, I thought of training staff and the staff were you know, coaches want to do more than just their one sport, right? My expectation is that, um you know, if you're coaching your one sport like, is there something else you can, um, give to the school right? Are you gonna be someone that's going to be an assistant coach for someone else, Or you meet a head coach for one support and JV coach for another, Right? Because what, we're gonna be limited with the number of staff members yet we still have to What? We still got a field, an entire