In 2008, Ian Valentine graduated from Newfield High School as he got set to play baseball at Southern Vermont College. He returned to his alma mater to coach multiple sports, currently the head football coach and the assistant baseball coach. With the athletic director position open this year, it was only natural for someone who’s Newfield through and through to step up.
On November 1, Valentine officially began his tenure as director of athletics. It is undoubtedly a full-circle moment 18 years since he last roamed the school as a student-athlete.
“Everything you do, you do with pride, but there’s certainly a greater sense of pride knowing that these were the walls I walk, the hallways I walk,” Valentine said. “These were the shoes I filled as an athlete. So to be able to take over and in a few short years, it just brings a sense of pride to know that I’m doing something that I can relate to these young men and women that are going through the same program.”
Valentine follows in the footsteps of two athletic directors that he can always rely on for guidance in his new role. There’s Jeff Augustine, who led Newfield athletics for 20 years and is still the head baseball coach. Then there’s Hank Neubert, who was the AD the last three years before moving to South Carolina.
“Jeff is a mentor of mine,” Valentine said. “I can date all the way back to my high school days asking him for letters of rec, using him as job reference interviews. He has been a mentor of mine that I’m really excited to lean on and get an area of expertise. While Hank’s no longer here with us, he’s a close and dear friend of mine that I still stay in touch with today. Those gentlemen are huge resources to have in my bag of tricks.”
Valentine is now one of many athletic directors who either were coaches or have continued to coach at their school. He has already had a significant impact on so many student-athletes in 15 years coaching at both Newfield and previously at Ithaca High School. He believes that will only continue to grow overseeing Trojan athletics.
“I think being the athletic director allows me to expand that reach even further,” Valentine said. “Now, it’s not just the programs that I am coaching. It’s all of the programs. It’s being able to look at the 150 to 200 student-athletes that are signing up for our fall, winter and spring programs. Now I get to be a part of their process, as well. I’m really excited to be able to help steer things and hopefully make a positive impact on the Newfield athletic programs going forward.”
As always, the ‘student’ component of being a student-athlete is just as (if not more) important as the ‘athlete’ portion. Newfield has consistently thrived academically as they were once again named a NYSPHSAA School of Excellence, an honor given to schools where at least 75% of varsity teams earned the Scholar-Athlete Team award. For that award, the team’s average GPA for 75% of the roster must be 90 or above.
“[Academics] are such a bright spot here at Newfield,” Valentine said. “It’s part of the draw to come here. It’s part of the pros to being such a small district that our athletes are our NHS members. They are our ex officios with the board. They are our everything. They are our club members. They are our students… Over the years, I hope the students are able to continue the process. They’ve been able to wear those hats and wear them and be excellent on the field as well as continue to be excellent in their academic programs.”
Since it is still very early on in Valentine’s tenure, there has not been time to map out long-term goals. With fall sports wrapped up, it’s onto the winter season.
“We’re making sure we’ve got officials booked for basketball season, make sure we’ve got floor spaces booked. Rec season is coming up, so we’ve got to make sure everything’s dialed up because the rec programs also use our facilities. We’ve got to make sure that we’re dialing all that stuff. The early going on has just been making sure that all the P’s and Q’s of everything are dialed in, taking care of that.”
As for how the football season went for Valentine’s Trojans, they wrapped things up with a 1-6 record. But there were some positives, such as playing their first-ever night game with the new lights at Cancro Field. There will also be plenty of young talent returning to the team next year, including junior quarterback Gavin Jenney and sophomore running back Fred Rivera.
“Progress is measured in many different ways on the field,” Valentine said. “We certainly didn’t get done what we hoped to accomplish, but that just means there’s opportunity to grow in the weight room this coming winter and into the spring and all of that stuff. There’s opportunity for growth, and that’s what we look for.”
