By Malcolm Butler
When I sat down with Cedar Creek head of School Cindy Hampton earlier this week, she took the time to answer all of my questions in regards to the $5 million athletics strategic plan.
But one of the answers really stood out.
“Everybody wants to be on a winning team,” said Hampton. “Everybody wants to be in a winning program, whether that be academics, athletics or arts. Everybody wants to be on a winning team.”
Amen, Cindy.
With the announcement over the last month of new head coaching hires for football, girls basketball, and baseball, Cedar Creek has addressed the leadership for those sports as the school looks towards the future.
On paper William Parkerson, Katie Hall and Chad Yates all look like strong, stabilizing hires. Time will tell as far as wins and losses, but Creek fans need to be patient, supportive and give those three coaches the support and space to build their culture on their respective playing fields.
Now with its most recent announcement of a $5 million athletics strategic plan, the school is addressing what could be perceived as its next biggest hurdle: the facilities arms race that has permeated from college campuses to high schools around the country.
It’s a race that can have a direct affect on an enrollment at a school.
In today’s world, a successful athletics program on the high school level is just as important to enrollment as it is on the collegiate level; just maybe on a smaller scale.
And enrollment at a private school like Cedar Creek is critical to not only thriving, but surviving. Tuition funds the overwhelming majority of the school’s yearly budget. So when enrollment dips, budget dollars decreases. And it has a negative impact across the school.
On the opposite side, when enrollment increases, those budget dollars grow … dollars that can have a direct impact on the entire school — almost 100 percent of that non-athletics related.
Outside of an annual student activity fee, Cedar Creek athletics receives very little budget dollars. The athletic programs are funded each year through revenue generated by athletic corporate sponsorships, ticket sales, fundraisers and the aforementioned student activity fee.
So in a lot of ways — like most high school’s across the state — the Cedar Creek athletic programs sit on an island when it comes to funding any type of facility improvements. Thus, the need for this athletics strategic plan.
Although the school had a successful athletic year, it still lags behind many of its competitors — both within it’s own district and throughout the state — in some areas of the facilities arms race. In this race being good enough is not good enough. The strategic athletic plan provides a means and an opportunity to narrow any gaps that may exist and help further the separation in areas where Cedar Creek may already be ahead of its competitors.
The school has an advantage when it comes to the fact it houses kindergarten through 12th grade, thus allowing for it to develop a strong middle school program that feeds the junior high and a junior high program that feeds the high school. But in order to truly utilize that advantage, it must be able to recruit good families that want to call Cedar Creek home throughout their children’s academic careers.
In this day and age, it’s about attracting families to a school and just as importantly retaining those families year after year. Winning on the playing fields and in the classroom help that cause.
Strong coaches plus strong facilities equals strong athletic programs. Strong athletic programs equals an enrollment increase. An enrollment increase equals more tuition dollars. And more tuition dollars equals the ability to hire more teachers and increase their salaries. Increased salaries lead to stability in the faculty and staff.
It’s not just about retaining your student body. It’s also about retaining your faculty and staff. It all leads to continuity and success.
Cedar Creek can thrive both academically and athletically at the same time. And when the two entities are both flourishing, the school, its faculty, staff and students all win.
Thus, the $5 million athletics strategic plan has all the makings of a win for the entire school.
And as Cindy Hampton said, “Everybody wants to be on a winning team.”
