Scott Todd replaces Kris Sander as Grove City athletics director, assistant principal
Scott Todd had been looking for an opportunity to make the jump to athletics administration.
So, when the athletics director/assistant principal position opened up at Grove City High School, he said it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Todd, who was baseball coach and career technology instructor at Central Crossing, was approved by the school board June 27 to replace Kris Sander.
“We’re excited to have Scott join us,” Grove City principal Bryan O’Shea said. “He’s been a longtime teacher in the district. Certainly, his background and coaching experience is going to be a great fit for our school – especially in that athletic director role. Having that experience as a head coach, working with student-athletes, working with parents (and) working with the community gives him a huge step up in being able to jump into that role and hit the ground running.”
Sander, who had been in the position since 2017, will be the director of career-technical satellite programs at Tolles Career and Technical Center.
“Kris did amazing work in moving our athletic department forward making sure that our teams, our facilities and our coaching staffs were the best in central Ohio,” O’Shea said. “Certainly, we’ve seen a lot of success and growth as a school and as an athletic department. I know I am personally and professionally excited for her in her new role, but I also know that leaves some very big shoes for Scott to fill.”
Todd is the only baseball coach in Central Crossing history, going 223-260 in 19 seasons.
“It was definitely a very, very tough decision,” Todd said. “A larger leadership role is something that I’ve been looking for over the last couple of years. Grove City was able to provide me that opportunity where I have a chance to positively influence more students to be successful (than I had with) just a baseball program and a classroom. It’s a larger role that I’ve been eager to pursue.”
For Sander, it was a chance “to get back to my roots.”
“I was a career technical teacher for 21 years, so that truly is my background,” said Sander, who had worked in South-Western City Schools since 1994. “That’s part of the reason for the decision.
“But it is truly bittersweet to leave Grove City because South-Western has been my district for 28 years. One of the things that’s a real positive is the person they hired to take over the AD position in Scott Todd. I coached for two years, but that’s nothing compared to what Scott had and the knowledge he has from his experience.”
Sander believes Grove City is set up for success.
“I feel our sports programs are in good hands with the coaches that we have,” she said. “One concern is that we’re still looking for a swim coach trying to replace Amy Miller. But I think our football program is headed in the right direction under Greg Waits’ leadership. I certainly feel like our facilities are in good shape and we have good people in place to lead everything forward in a positive direction.”
“With (Todd) being there so long, the culture is there,” said first baseman Lucas Miller, a rising senior. “We were such a close-knit group last year. We would hang out after practices. He really helped put us in a situation where we could win and we found a way to win. Once we found a stride before the playoffs, we just rode it. It’s going to look vastly different not having coach Todd coaching third base and running all the workouts.”
Central Crossing has won at least 11 games every year since 2013, when it finished with a program-best 18 victories.
“When the school opened up 20 years ago, we (had) no seniors, building a brand-new program from scratch and I’m a first-year head coach,” Todd said. “So, we had a learning curve at the beginning. We have built something really, really good where hopefully it’s sustainable for the next coach that takes over.”
“From the first day I got there, he was helping me,” said Miller, who transferred from Grove City after his freshman year. “If I was casting my hands too far or if I would pull my head on a pick – he paid attention to everything. You could tell that he has built such a great culture at Central Crossing. His direction helped ease all the nerves of playing varsity baseball for the first time (as a sophomore). He did a good job of acclimating me with high school baseball and teaching me the ins and outs of everything.”
Two of Todd’s brothers have been involved with high school athletics for several years. Jeff Todd has been Worthington Kilbourne’s athletics director since 2011 after serving in the same role at Thomas Worthington for four years.
Brad Todd is an assistant wrestling coach at Thomas, where he served as head coach for five seasons after serving in the same role at Johnstown for four seasons. Their father is former Ohio State baseball coach Bob Todd.
“Grove City actually gave me my first teaching position, and I was the assistant baseball coach before Central Crossing opened up,” Scott Todd said. “So, it’s going back to my roots as where I got my start. It’s just another opportunity for me to give back to the Grove City community.”
mrich@thisweeknews.com
@ThisWeekRich
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Scott Todd replaces Kris Sander as Grove City athletics director
