On Jan. 12, the role of the Assistant Athletic Director was filled. Upholding this position is Brian Harbin.
Since former athletic director Nick Stevens has moved to pursue his future in New York, former Assistant AD Tony Harris stepped into the AD position, which left the assistant spot open.
Though Harbin is not familiar with this position, he has worked in the sports world for so long he hopes to rely on the knowledge he has and bring it into this position.
“I’m excited about the challenge (and) a new opportunity (to) meet a lot of different new people,” Harbin said.
Looking back, high school was a memorable time for Harbin. He turned his career right side up when he fell in love with football. Through those years, as he played football and baseball, he took a glimpse into his future and knew he wanted to major in education and wanted to be a coach as well.
When Harbin went to Franklin College, he continued to play football through all four years of college and graduated with a bachelor’s degree.
Harbin took the time to seek out a coaching job after he got out of school and eventually had his first opportunity at Franklin Central.
The next year, he began teaching in P.E. and health. These were his first years being a coach and a teacher together, so he was just getting the hang of things.
In the last 27 years, Harbin has coached at Franklin Central, Center Grove and Franklin Community and has had much success.
“I knew I wanted to be a teacher and a coach,” Harbin said. “Going through all those different stages open different doors.”
After 27 years of coaching and teaching at different schools, Harbin was looking for a position he could settle down in. That is when he came across an opportunity to try something new in the athletic field.
When trying to secure the position, he had to find a way to beat out 16 other candidates.
Through every round of the interviews, Harris noticed his professionalism in the sports world. This caught the eye of Harris and helped him score the new position as assistant AD.
“Just how professional he is, how good at building relationships he is and then his connectivity to the coaching world, it was higher than most,” Harris said.
To be able to get adjusted to their new styles in the office, Harris and Harbin are tying up their thoughts about the new positive changes they will bring to SHS and putting them aside.
One big shift Harbin is looking to make is growing the student athletic society larger.
As the school year 25-26 slowly comes to an end, Harbin looks forward to the countless more years he has at SHS. Not to mention, Harris will have his newest addition to the crew in the athletic department.
Harbin is looking forward to making an impact on the athletic world and expanding his knowledge from other coaches.
“I have this phrase I stole its E plus R equals O. You have an event (E), you have a response (R) and then it goes (to) your outcome (O),” Harbin said. “And we don’t always control all these events that go on in our life, but if we don’t have a positive outcome, we really need to focus on how we respond to things.”
