Fountain Hills Middle School physical education teacher and high school girls basketball coach Amanda Baca has taken over as the Fountain Hills Unified School District Athletic Director beginning with the 2017-18 academic year.

Baca shifted into this new position when former Athletic Director Michael Briguglio announced he would be retiring from the local district at the conclusion of the 2016-17 year.

Baca said her time will be split between two campuses, keeping up with her classes at the middle school in the mornings and heading to the high school campus in the afternoon to take care of her new duties as athletic director.

Baca started her tenure in FHUSD back in 2008. She graduated from New Mexico State University before teaching and coaching for five years in her home state.

During her first year at FHUSD, Baca taught Spanish and coached girls basketball and volleyball. From there, she took a year off from the classroom to get her master’s in athletic administration before returning to the local district, where she found herself teaching mathematics.

“The basketball job brought me [to Fountain Hills],” Baca explained. “I was coaching at a smaller school and knew I wanted to move up.”

Baca said a longtime friend lived in Arizona, who she contacted to check out Fountain Hills when she saw a job listing open up here.

“He called me and said, I’m standing in front of the school and they have a fountain here, and a cool park and it seems really nice, so you have to at least come and check it out,” Baca said.

One thing led to another and, the next thing she knew, Baca was working in the nice town with the fountain.

“I’ve really enjoyed my time here,” Baca said of her near-decade in the district. “There’s good staff here and there are good kids here. I was really pleased to be able to coach the middle school and high school programs, because that creates a nice feeder program, and I’ve had great parent support.”

Looking back over her time here, Baca said that coaching local ladies and getting to be an influence in their lives has been her greatest highlight.

“I still get emails or Facebook messages from people who graduated five or six years ago,” Baca said. “The culture that has grown out of that program has been great.”

Baca said she planned on one day moving into an athletic director role, but did not expect an opportunity to open up at this point in her career.

“I asked Mike [Briguglio] if he could start showing me the ropes and he said sure,” Baca said. “So for the past three years I’ve been learning from him…He’s been a really good mentor in that department.”

At the end of the 2016-17 academic year, Baca said that Briguglio informed her of his intentions to step down.

“He said he’d feel really comfortable if I wanted to step into the role of athletic director,” she continued. “We’re on really great terms, Mike and I, so I know if I ever need his help I can call him.”

Baca said she’s always up for a challenge so, given the opportunity, she took it. And before the new school year even begins, she knows she’s got her work cut out for her.

At present, Baca is in the process of hiring a new cross country coach. She also needs to hire a new girls basketball coach as her own replacement and a new girls soccer coach. A new baseball coach also needs to be hired to replace Briguglio.

“So I have a lot to fill in during the first few weeks of school,” Baca said, chuckling. “I would have like to keep more veteran coaches during my first year, but you can’t fault them for working to better themselves or going after something that interests them.”

At the same time, Baca sees these challenges as opportunities ready to be tackled.

“Athletics is my life,” she said. “I’m drawn to the competitive nature of it. I love it. It’s tough giving up the coaching, but I look at it as a chance to be a mentor to more kids now than just my own team.

“I’m looking forward to finding ways to help our kids not just be the best athletes they can be, but also the best student athletes they can be.

“I’m excited to start and I’m looking forward to a good year.”