North's Kris Painter named IIAAA Athletic Director of the Year

Sue Loughlin, The Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, Ind.
·2 min read

Mar. 22—Terre Haute North High School's Kris Painter has been named the state's Athletic Director of the Year by the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (IIAAA).

She has been North's athletic director for the past eight years and prior to that was an assistant AD for 12 years. She also coached North volleyball, 16 years as head coach and three years as an assistant.

IIAAA has six districts in Indiana and Painter initially was chosen as the District 6 Administrator of the Year by her peers in that district, which includes all high schools in southwest Indiana.

She then was in competition with five other athletic administrators nominated by the other five IIAAA districts. She was chosen as the recipient of the state award by a committee of three Indiana athletic administrators.

"I think anytime you can do good things for kids, good things will come back to you," Painter said Wednesday. "I've been very blessed throughout my life to be involved in athletics and the things they have done for me — the life lessons that athletics teach you. So I'm having an opportunity to give back to kids to help them reach their potential as well."

Being recognized by IIAAA at the district and state level is humbling, she said. "It's nice to be rewarded in that way, but it's obviously not the reason we do what we do."

It's also recognition for North's athletics programs and those involved.

"I couldn't do what I do without the support of our administrative team and our teachers, our kids, our coaches and our parents," Painter said. "I think this is more of a community award."

Among her goals as athletic director?

"Obviously, you always want to win a state championship," she said with a laugh. "But our main goal is to turn out great human beings and we have great kids here. If we can continue to do that and continue to have people who are productive members of our society, but more importantly, our community, I think that's a win."

The job of athletic director takes a lot of hours, "but if you like what you do, you don't really notice those hours," Painter noted.

Painter earned her bachelor's in business education from Ball State, her master's in vocational business education from Indiana State and her master's in administration from ISU.

She has been a member of the IIAAA and NIAAA for the past eight years and served as the IIAAA Section 3 minority director from 2020-2022.

She is currently the IIAAA's District 6 director. She is a member of the IHSAA board of directors and has been director of the IHSAA cross country state championships since 2015.

Painter was a board member for the Wabash Valley FCA from 2017-2019 and has been on the Union Christian Church audio-visual team for 20 years.