Athletic director 'locking up the resume' after moving from Franklin County to York County

Ron Coursey knows he's moved around quite a bit in his career, and he expected his current stop to last longer.

But the reason he arrived in Chambersburg ended up being the same reason he decided to leave.

And it's why he hopes to never leave a job again.

Coursey was approved as the next athletic director at York Suburban High School last week. He'll take over for Matt Marshall, who announced his upcoming resignation in October after six years at the school to take a job at a new athletic facility coming to the area.

A native of Columbia, Md., Coursey left Woodland Hills High School outside Pittsburgh to come to Chambersburg in July 2021 so he could be closer to his family. His new job will cut his drive to his hometown nearly in half.

"Family is huge to me and as our parents get older its paramount to spend as much time with them as possible," Coursey said. "Being at York Suburban puts me 45 minutes from my parents' front door and right by my brother and niece and nephew.

"From a professional side, it's just a phenomenal opportunity and a dream job for an AD."

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York Suburban's school board agenda from last Monday lists Coursey's annual salary at $110,000. His annual salary at Chambersburg was $114,000, according to the school board agenda from his hiring.

While Marshall will be leaving York Suburban at the end of December, Coursey said he plans to finish the winter sports season at Chambersburg before starting his new job. York Suburban assistant principal Dr. Christopher Adams will help out with athletic department duties during the transition.

Coursey isn't a stranger to York County. After working at charter schools in Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh, he took the athletic director job at York High in Jan. 2016, succeeding legendary Bearcats administrator Joe Chiodi. He spent just one full school year there before taking the same position at Woodland Hills in the summer of 2017.

He spent four years at Woodland Hills before coming to Chambersburg. At the time, he called the Class 6A school in Franklin County a "sleeping giant" with a ton of athletic potential.

He said he still feels that way but couldn't pass up an opportunity at school closer to Maryland.

"When I came to Chambersburg, I didn't have any intention of leaving so quickly," Coursey said. "We have great facilities here and have been able to bring in signature events. I enjoyed my time here. I can't be a leader if I don't walk the walk and I wouldn't have taken the (York Suburban) job if I couldn't finish the winter season (at Chambersburg)."

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Still, Coursey hopes this will be the last time he changes job. The 41-year-old said he'd like to retire from York Suburban if possible.

The Trojans compete in Class 4A in football and Class 5A in basketball and have had solid success in those sports in recent years. York Suburban is traditionally a powerhouse in swimming, cross country and track and field.

"I'm locking my resume in the file cabinet," Coursey said. "Matt has done a great job and the department isn't broken, but it's my job to steer the district to the next phase of its evolution. It's a little smaller than I'm accustomed to but you can still accomplish great things here. I was a (NCAA) Division III athlete and the message preached to me was athletics are important but academics are the backbone. York Suburban checked all those boxes."

A former basketball player at Carnegie Mellon, Coursey has planned ambitious initiatives and events throughout his career as an athletic director.

At York High, he created an outline to bring back a number of varsity sports including baseball, softball, soccer and competitive cheer. At Chambersburg, he created the "Hoops for Harmony" basketball tournament around Martin Luther King Jr. Day to raise funds for racial justice groups in Franklin County. Chambersburg also hosted a "Peach Bowl" showcase that brought some of the top football teams from across the state to the school for the opening weekend this season.

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He also hosted a basketball tournament at Woodland Hills dedicated to gun violence prevention and said he'd like to create a similar event at York Suburban.

"That is something York County is being affected by right now and it's important to raise resources to curb gun violence," he said. "And York County isn't known for peaches but I'd like to host a football tournament opening weekend and bring nationally-ranked teams here."

Coursey will be the second Black athletic director currently working in the YAIAA along with York High's Jeff White. He's served on the Mid-Penn Conference's Diversity and Equity Committee and said he'd like to continue to promote diversity in his new job.

With a number of YAIAA athletic directors retiring or leaving the profession due to demanding hours in recent years, Coursey said he'd like to emerge as a leader for the entire YAIAA.

"When I was at York High, I looked up to guys like (Central York's) Marty Trimmer and (Red Lion's) Arnie Fritzius and (Dallastown's) Tory Harvey," Coursey said. "Now things are skewing younger and newer, and I get to come back as an elder statesman. I fell in love with York County and thought it was amazing that you can get a suburban, urban and rural experience in a 15 to 20-minute radius. If you can dream it, you can find it in York County."

Matt Allibone is a sports reporter for GameTimePA. He can be reached at 717-881-8221, mallibone@ydr.com or on Twitter at @bad2theallibone. 

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Athletic director Ron Coursey leaving Chambersburg for York Suburban