Windham High athletic director faces a daunting task
September 4, 2008
Eagle Tribune
WINDHAM, N.H. — Athletic Director Bill Raycraft doesn’t have any sports teams, physical education classes or coaches. In fact, Raycraft doesn’t even have a school — yet.
But Raycraft has plenty to do in the year before Windham High School opens next August.
Superintendent Frank Bass calls Raycraft’s mission a daunting one.
It includes everything from determining what teams the school will field and whether there will be junior varsity and varsity squads, to hiring all the coaches and working with the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association to schedule all the games.
He also must build a physical education program for the school.
“It’s a daunting task — no question about it,” Bass said. “But one of the reasons we chose him is because we sensed he had that kind of ability, including perseverance and fortitude, to get the job done and done well.”
Raycraft, 40, was most recently the athletic director at John Stark Regional High School in Weare. He’s the son of a veteran athletic director. He said starting an athletic program from scratch is challenging but exciting.
“I’m wearing many hats,” Raycraft said. “One hour I’m working on new curriculum for the physical education and wellness program for the high school, the next hour I’m looking at what sports we will play on which fields. It’s a high school being built on a lot of research. We’re taking the best components from other high schools and bringing them to Windham.”
R. Patrick Corbin, a former Salem High School principal and now executive director of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association, said he was impressed by Raycraft when he was at John Stark Regional High School.
Corbin said he knows what it’s like to create a new athletics program — and he doesn’t envy Raycraft. Corbin oversaw the creation of an athletics program at Nashua North High School, where he served as that school’s first principal.
“I have a good sense of how monumental a task it is to start an athletic program,” Corbin said. “But I think Windham school officials made a good choice with Bill Raycraft. He’s bright. He has a good analytical mind, and I know he’s excited about the new school and his role as athletic director.”
Raycraft said he has enjoyed watching the school’s athletics facilities take shape since he came onboard July 1.
“It’s sort of like watching your child grow,” he said. “Seeing the facilities in drawings is one thing. But it’s a different feeling when you walk into the gym or other facilities and see them coming along.”
The heart of the athletics program will be in the gym.
“I think the gym will be a centerpiece of the school,” he said. “It’s going to be a place where students will be proud to host events. It will be large enough to hold 1,200 people and for practices for two teams at the same time.”
The gym will have an adjacent weight lifting/fitness room and a separate cardiac fitness room, equipped with treadmills and stationary bikes. While these rooms will be used for the physical education curriculum, students and teachers will be able to work out in them, too, Raycraft said.
Windham High School will open with a freshmen and sophomore enrollment of 335 next year. Those student athletes likely will face the Pelham High Pythons, Oyster River Bobcats and Bedford High Bulldogs in their inaugural year. They won’t, however, compete against nearby Pinkerton Academy, Londonderry High or Salem High, all much bigger schools.
Raycraft wants to give the first students attending Windham High a big say in what sports teams the school will field.
He surveyed Windham students who are freshmen at Salem High this year and will be sophomores at Windham High next year to find out what sports they want to play. As expected, football and basketball drew the most support.
Raycraft said he will survey eighth-graders at Windham Middle School, the students who will be the first freshman class at the new school.
He also has met with the athletic director at Bedford High School, which just completed its inaugural year. The athletic director there, Thor Nielson, told him what worked and what didn’t work in the opening year, Raycraft said.
He has reviewed the athletics facilities for the new school, many of which are still being built, and recommended the addition of a track and a multipurpose playing field with artificial turf.
“I think we have a gem in Bill Raycraft,” School Board Chairman Barbara Coish said. “I’m extremely happy with him. Being an athletic director is in his blood.”
He lives in Weare with his wife and 13-year-old daughter, but he may move closer to Windham, he said.