Kaneland High School selected a new Athletic Director

Photo By Nick Boose

The desk in the athletic office awaits the arrival of Peter Goff.

By: Nick Boose, Executive editor

The Mar. 10, 2014 District 302 released a press release. The press release said Peter Goff will take the Kaneland High School athletic director position. Goff starts as the athletic director on July 1, 2014. His base salary will start at $85,000.

“There were over one hundred applicants. It was really encouraging to see how many people want to be part of the Kaneland community,” interim athletic director Rudy Keller said.

According to the press release, Goff was chosen in a multi-step interview process. Each step in the process consisted of different layers of interviewing. The process included interviews with a group of KHS Department Chairs, a district administrative team, a head coaches group, a community group and a student group.

“The athletic director position is a multi-prong position. It needs to be someone with a strong connection to the school, and someone to be the face of Kaneland here and at away events,” principal Jill Maras said.

For the past two years, Goff has served as the dean at Sycamore High School. Previously, he was the head boys basketball coach in Bloomington. His resume also includes teaching English, Communications and History at Sterling High School.

Junior Madi Jurcenko was part of the student group that aided the interview process.

“I think [Goff] will do a great job. He has a lot of experience in sports, so I think he knows what the teams need. He also really wants to be involved. An athletic director needs to be visible,” Jurcenko said.

One of Goff’s major goals coming into Kaneland High School is to make a unified symbol.

“We want to have a common logo. Everywhere we go we want them to know the Knights are here,” Goff said.

Tuesday Mar. 11, Goff attended the Knights basketball game in Hampshire.

“[The rowdies] were excellent,” Goff said.

Another main goal that Goff has is to incorporate more students into a sport or an activity.

“Forty-seven percent of the student body is in a sport or involved in an extracurricular. I would like to get that number up to 55 percent,” Goff said, “I want after school activities at Kaneland High School to be the best experience they have ever had.”