This past May, longtime local educator John Ward quietly took over Carpinteria High School’s athletic program, grabbing the reins from a retired Rick Olmstead to become the Warriors’ new Athletic Director.
Olmstead, a Carpinteria High teacher since 1973, served as AD for six years, just like his predecessor Van Latham. But unlike Van Latham, who remains the head coach of the track program, Olmstead has retired for good from the school district. The former volleyball coach – famous in volleyball circles for being Karch Kiraly’s high school coach – will still be active refereeing matches at collegiately.
Ward, who has experience as athletic director from his time at Bishop Diego, will retain his title as head boys basketball coach, a position he’s held since 1982 at both Bishop and Carpinteria.
“We’re not broken so I don’t need to fix anything — I think the athletic department is in pretty good shape,” summed up Ward while looking ahead to the 2009-10 school year. “We have a lot of things to do to try to still do the things we used to do even with budget cuts. We are going to look for ways to save, but also ways to generate money.”
Another thing Ward would like to generate more of is the number of students participating in athletics. Carpinteria’s student body numbers roughly 750 and some of its programs, even its most popular, have suffered from lack of participation. Last year’s football team, for instance, earned a CIF playoff berth with only 21 guys suited up for certain games.
This year, Ward says new coach Ben Hallock has up to 80 athletes trying out, a first step in the right direction. The Warrior football team will be the first in action for the new AD, hosting Santa Ynez on Friday in a week-zero matchup.
