STARKVILLE — The landscape with Starkville Academy’s athletics department is going to look different come next school year as current athletic director Chase Nicholson will be stepping down from the position.
News broke Friday about the move, which comes as the school has continued its rapid growth in recent years.
Nicholson, who will remain a teacher at SA and the Volunteers’ head football coach, has had quite a bit on his plate, so he hopes the move will be able to benefit a number of parties at the end of the day.
“I know that at the end of the day, I want to be around kids,” Nicholson said. “I want to teach kids. I want to coach kids, and that’s my No. 1 focus.”
He’ll help assist in the search for a new AD at the school, a search that will begin after the new year.
The move itself has developed much over the past year or so, with the combination of wearing three hats at Starkville Academy becoming more of a pressing issue for Nicholson.
It’s hard to juggle so much at once with the intention to put as much effort and focus into each. Not only that, but the job of an athletic director, being part of the administration of the school, requires an extra level of responsibility and attention.
Once next school year comes, the hope and expectation from the school is to be able to find someone to fully and solely handle the duties of running the athletic department for the Vols.
“It’s something that’s been brewing over the past year,” Nicholson said. “We’re hoping to hire a standalone athletic director that’s not a coach, someone that’s just purely an administrator…I could have remained the AD if I wanted to, but that’s not what I want to do.
“I want to coach football. I want to teach classes. I want to do Vols Production and our live-streaming and work with kids every day.”
Nicholson came to Starkville Academy back in 2009, becoming the head football coach in 2015. His first four years in the head coach role, he was also assistant athletic director, and for the last four years, he was elevated to athletic director.
Under his leadership, the Vols have made the postseason each of the last four years in football, reaching the MAIS Class 5A title game in 2019.
Starkville Academy has been one of the more successful MAIS Class 5A schools across all sports, and that will only continue to grow with a new athletic director at the helm.
“I’ve seen Starkville Academy grow — not just athletically but academically, through the staff, the teachers, it’s grown a lot since I’ve been here,” Nicholson said. “I see nothing but continued growth in the future, so there’s no doubt that I’m excited about it, that I get to be part of it.”
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m not disappearing. I’m still going to be there every day to help grow, help teach, help continue to build Starkville Academy, and I get to do it a little bit different now.”
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