18 | NPAR
interview TONY MILLER
It was announced that Tony Miller will take over as North Port High School ’ s new athletic director . Miller has worked at NPHS since 2003 . In addition to teaching , he currently serves as head coach of the girl ’ s weightlifting and boy ’ s track teams . Miller will replace Cary Willgren , who spent two years in the position . Interview by : Megan Hart
WHAT considerations did you make before you decided to apply for the AD position ? It really came down to my family . I sat down with my wife and three kids , and asked them what they thought . When they gave me their approval , that ’ s when I knew I could go for it .
WHAT are your goals for the athletic program ? I definitely want to try to focus on bridging the gap between the community and the school . I ’ d like to get more people from the community to come to our home events ... whether it ’ s a football game or a basketball game or baseball or softball . Then , I ’ d like us to try to become a little more competitive in all of our sports and to see our athletes get into college with their sports .
THERE ’ S a history of local athletes deciding to compete for other area schools . Do you feel like North Port ’ s Athletic Department can do anything to change that trend ?
I think it comes down to the parents and the community buying into our program and sending their students to North Port High School rather than looking at schools up the road or down the road that may have better programs at the time being . It ’ s probably more prevalent in football than any other sport . We don ’ t lose a lot of student athletes to local schools for other sports . But football is the biggest sport , in terms of revenue , for almost any school . And , it sets the precedent for the year . When the football team comes out and does well , it carries over to the winter and the spring sports , as well , so that ’ s our biggest challenge .
ARE there any other challenges that you plan to tackle starting out ?
Fundraising is always a challenge . I think that ’ s going to be a big focus . I ’ m no longer looking for the money we need to function as a track team for the year , but rather the money we need to function as a department . As a coach you always have short term and long term goals , and I think that carries over into my new position . When Coach Nguyen and I took over the track program , we thought about where we should be two to three years from now . Now as an Athletic Department , that looks different than it would for a single sport , but idea is the same .
YOU ’ VE been at North Port almost since the school started . What does North Port High School mean to you personally ?
In the interview process for this new job , they asked me “ Why do you think you ’ re the best candidate ?” I said that I don ’ t know if there ’ s a best candidate for the position , but I do know that I ’ ve been at North Port High School for 14 years . I ’ ve taught multiple subjects that I was asked to teach when they needed people to teach them , and I ’ ve coached sports . My heart and soul goes into that school as a teacher and a coach , and that ’ s just going to carry over as athletic director . The way I look at it is that I work for the kids . The students and athletes are my bosses … that ’ s who I work for . I ’ m here for them .