Less than three years after he took the reins as athletic director of Durango School District 9-R, Adam Bright has accepted a new job that he hopes will allow him to continue to help Southwest Colorado student-athletes along with the entire state.
On Tuesday morning, the Colorado High School Activities Association announced it had hired Bright as one of two new assistant commissioners to work under commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green in Denver. Bright will begin his position with CHSAA starting July 1. He plans to be a champion for Southwest Colorado schools along with all 359 of CHSAA’s member institutions. CHSAA has five assistant commissioners on staff, while Tom Robinson serves as associate commissioner.
“It was actually a very tough decision,” Bright said. “I love Durango and the work we are doing. Not being here to see it through to the end is tough, but we will be able to play a bigger part in the success for all kids across Colorado now.”
Bright’s hire was announced along with Justin Saylor, the manager of high school athletics for Denver Public Schools. Two assistant commissioner positions were open to replace Ernie Derrera and Bud Ozzello. Dererrera will go on to serve as the assistant principal and athletic director at Severance High School, a new school in Weld County. Ozzello, who spent nine years with CHSAA, retired.
“I am unbelievably excited to announce these new additions to our team,” Blanford-Green told CHSAANow.com. “They will both bring valuable experience from their current and past roles and also bring the type of forward-thinking mentality necessary to stay relevant with the future of interscholastic administration and student participation.
“Both Justin and Adam have a combination of educationally-based leadership and diverse backgrounds that will continue to keep Colorado at the forefront nationally. They are each difference-makers with student-participants across the state.”
Durango 9-R will now search for a new athletic director for the fourth time since the 2012-13 school year. Roxanne Perrin spent one year in the position during the 2013-14 school year. She was replaced by Dave Preszler for two years before he retired. Bright was hired before the 2016-17 school year. DHS principal Jon Hoerl said the goal is to find the right fit for the position to provide stability. The position will be posted as quickly as possible, and Hoerl said students, parents, coaches and teachers will all be involved in the hiring process.
“The nice part about this position is that it is not a stepping stone that is seen in some districts,” Hoerl said in an email to The Durango Herald. “Given that this is a district athletic director position, our hope is that we will attract a high-quality candidate with athletic director experience willing to invest in our community and truly take DHS athletics to the next level. That includes (grades sixth through 12th) alignment, getting as many kids involved in (high school) sports and activities as possible and competing for state championships.”
Bright hit the ground running upon his arrival from Middle Park High School in Granby. He brought 12 years of athletic director experience and played a key role in enhancing the DHS athletic experience for athletes, coaches and fans.
One of his first acts was to bring the Durango softball team back to campus for its home games instead of Aspen Field at Fort Lewis College. During the 2016 football season, DHS opened its new turf field complete with skydivers for the grand opening. Later in the year, he worked to bring back an alpine skiing team to DHS. He then added a Nordic ski team for the 2018-19 season.
As a CHSAA committee member, Bright also led the charge to bring the 2019 CHSAA State Skiing Championships to Purgatory Resort, Chapman Hill and the Durango Nordic Center. He helped make it bigger than ever before, complete with an opening ceremony torchlight parade and fireworks show. He juggled heavy snow conditions to create alternative race plans to move the second day of racing from Purgatory to Chapman Hill, allowing the championships to be completed in full. The three-day event was also capped with an awards banquet at Fort Lewis College, an opportunity for FLC to bring hundreds of high school students to campus.
“Building a high school ski team for a ski town might have been a crazy idea, but to build that team from scratch with the great history of that sport at the high school was a special task to take on,” Bright said. “Hosting state ski, wow, what a snowstorm. Fireworks and a great banquet as bookends to the event, skiing at Purgatory and Chapman Hill and the awesome job the Durango Nordic Center did in hosting Nordic championships there was a great week to showcase Durango.”
A champion of Special Olympics, Bright also brought unified basketball to the gymnasium at DHS and gave special needs student-athletes to shine before and during halftime of varsity events. He was also key in CHSAA adopting unified bowling as a pilot sport.
Bright tried to make events fan-friendly. Motorcycles led the football team onto the field before big games, there was a helicopter flyover before the 2017 second-round playoff football game. He also led the charge in the creation of the Vallecito Bowl and traveling trophy for the Bayfield and Durango football programs in 2018.
“Mr. Bright has brought back the appeal to attend DHS athletic events,” Hoerl said. “His background in minor league baseball helped to foster an atmosphere at athletic contests that makes them enjoyable to attend. From pre-game ceremonies at football games to a lantern opening ceremony at the state ski championships, Adam made every game an event.”
Bright, who took pride in traveling with teams to every playoff appearance, also led the charge for student leaders to take control of halftime entertainment for basketball games.
“Having our students hear from the opposing coach from the Denver metro area that it was the best student section he had ever seen was something to be proud of,” Bright said, referring to Durango’s home Sweet 16 state tournament basketball game against Evergreen in 2017.
Bright’s wife, Jessica, is a Family Career and Community Leaders of America teacher at DHS. She resurrected the school’s culinary education program in 2017.
Now, Durango 9-R will look to find candidates who can continue the push forward.
“Mr. Bright did an amazing job for DHS and 9-R in his short tenure” Hoerl said. “He brought some innovative ideas to the budget and staffing models that mirror what is done at the collegiate level. Adam also raised the bar for our student athletes, holding them to a higher standard than what CHSAA allows, following that mantra that students will rise to our highest expectations. Student-athletes are not eligible if they hold an F and cannot travel if they have a D. With over 77 percent participation rate in our activities and athletics, our students have accepted this challenge.
“9-R will be pursing a district athletic director position that will take us to the next level. Coordinating 6-12 efforts to align with the high school will allow DHS to excel in the near future and beyond to compete at the highest level. 9-R will be seeking candidates that have athletic director experience and preferably an administrators license, along with a vision for how to move forward with a 6-12 concept while maintaining the individuality of each middle school.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
