As of this writing, Coach Michael Whittington has been the athletic director at Churchland High School for three whole weeks.
And although his journey as an athletic director has just begun, Coach Whittington has been working in athletics for some time.
“I’ve been working in athletics since ‘04. When I graduated college, I got into athletics. I started a sports information business and I’ve been doing that since 2004.”
Whittington came to CHS from Lake Taylor Middle, and previously coached varsity football at Lake Taylor High.
He has enjoyed being here so far. “It’s been cool being here. I feel like Churchland has a lot of potential. That’s one of the things that drew me to Churchland. So far, the kids have been real receptive of me being here. They’re really excited about the direction we’re going in athletics. It’s just been great so far,” he says.
Coach Whittington plans on changing two important things here at CHS which some people believe are serious problems.
“I plan on changing the culture and changing the participation, getting more kids out and involved in athletics. But not just athletics, getting involved in VHSL activities like yearbook, debate, forensics, etc. So it’s changing the culture and getting the participation up.”
Whittington knows that the relationship between the parents and the athletic administration can be a little prickly at times. To fix that problem, he plans to keep the parents informed.
“I’m gonna make it so that the student athletes are becoming successful. We’re trying to push the kids to go to college, make sure that parents are informed about the kids’ options, informing what they need to do to qualify as far as Clearinghouse, and what are the NCAA requirements. So it’s keeping the parents involved, having parent meetings and just letting them know the direction that we’re going in at Churchland - having the concise and clear direction.”
Whittington plans to fundraise money for athletics. He’s going to take every opportunity to promote sports events using our great facilities. He was even approached about having a step competition to generate revenue.
Expect Whittington to be at every practice, because he aims to be fully involved in every sport. He’s going to know the athletes’ names and come to games. Coach Whittington will be your biggest fan at every sports event.
In the future, we should expect a lot of excitement and changes in the athletic program at CHS.
“Expect excitement, a lot of energy, and hard work. I want to put my best foot forward. We have some quality coaches, and if we don’t have quality coaches, we’re going to find coaches that are here to develop our athletes, develop our students, and take Churchland to the next level.”
Photo: Elijah Macklin