The Fountain Hills Unified School District has hired former Falcon football and golf coach, Willie Dudley, as its new athletic director.

The position of athletic director, which Amanda Baca left last year to pursue coaching again, seemed like the logical next step for Dudley.

“I’m excited for the new challenge, it’s scary but all new things are,” Dudley said. “It was a good time for me to make the transition but I’ll say it’s hard to give up golf.”

As athletic director for the school district Dudley will be managing the ins and outs of sport programs both at the high school and the middle school.

This includes things such as making sure fields are in good condition for hosting games, working with the Arizona Interscholastic Association to make sure the district is in compliance and communicating with coaches and student athletes.

“I understand what it is like to be a coach at Fountain Hills,” Dudley, who last school year coached the high school golf team to seventh place in the state meet, said. “I want to help the coaches never lose sight of why they’re doing this. Some years are better than others and that can be tough. The tough years can be good in a different way, though.”

Coaching was something that Dudley knew he wanted to do for a long time.

“I knew in middle school that I wanted to coach,” Dudley said. “A few years after I graduated, my high school football coach hired me to be an assistant coach and since then I have coached a bunch. That is what led me to teaching.”

Dudley said he believes that sports can play a vital role in an adolescent’s development.

“During high school a student is intellectually, emotionally, physically and socially developing,” Dudley said. “A coach or a fellow teammate can be vital to that process. They can really help the student navigate what can seem like a treacherous path.”

Along with providing support to the coaches and athletes, Dudley also wants to expand the fundraising efforts of the athletic department, starting with a golf tournament in September.

“In this town there is a lot of focus on the high school, specifically the sports program,” Dudley explained. “Along with fundraisers I also want to make more people in town aware of how they can contribute through tax credit, even if they don’t have a child in the district.”

Dudley hopes to create a task force with Fountain Hills residents on it, which will help spread the word about tax credit donations to the program.

Dudley also plans to sell shirts that read “Campus of Champions” on them to raise funds. That motto is a mindset that Dudley wants to help cultivate at school.

“Dr. J has done a great job of setting the tone for the school with the Campus of Champions phrase,” Dudley said. “I want to build on that theme. To me that means that we always play hard but also that we are good sportsmen. After a game, win or lose, we make sure we cross the field and shake the other team’s hand.”

Dudley is optimistic for the future of Falcon sports, but is realistic about the trails that will have to be overcome.

“The future continues to looks promising and challenging,” Dudley said. “Promising because we have great students and coaches but challenging because there is always some sort of challenge.”