LRS athletic director a key figure in WIAA

Lind-Ritzville/Sprague athletic director Greg Whitmore plays a key role not only in the local community, but in the state as well when it comes to high school athletics.

Whitmore, who is also the head football coach for the LRS Broncos, has served as a member of the WIAA Executive Board for the past five years. Elected by the District 7 Board-which is mostly made up of athletic directors of schools in LRS' district-for a three-year term, Whitmore is currently in the second year of his second term on the executive board. And he is poised to become one of the most influential figures in the WIAA next year, when he's expected to become president of the executive board.

The Ritzville Journal had the opportunity to talk with Whitmore about his role in the WIAA, why he decided to get involved in the WIAA, the two amendments recently passed by the WIAA Representative Assembly and more in a recent interview. The following transcript has been edited lightly for clarity.

Ritzville Journal: What is the role you play in the WIAA?

Greg Whitmore: "This is my fifth year on the WIAA Executive Board. I was selected by District 7 to represent them on the Executive Board. I'm actually vice president of the Executive Board, and then I'll move up to be the president next year. That's kind of the way it works, if you don't goof it up too much. Mike Colbrese is the WIAA Executive Director and he's retiring after this year, which is his 26th year. He's one of the longest-tenured executive directors in [WIAA history].

So there will be some big changes, we'll have a new executive director and I'll be the first president of the new executive director's tenure. The neat thing is, we just went through the hiring process and hired a gentleman by the name of Mick Hoffman, who got on the board the exact same year I did, so we spent a couple of years [on the board together], and he's a really good friend and he'll do a great job for the WIAA.

RJ: How is the executive board structured and how does it work in relation to the executive director and the rest of the WIAA?

GW: "[The structure] is similar to a school board. The executive director is like the superintendent. And they've got some assistants, which are like principals. And then you have the executive board, which is like the school board. We are really a league-driven organization.

In other words, league amendments are often times proposed by the individual leagues, and then we go to the WIAA Representative Assembly and discuss the amendments. To have an amendment, a couple of things have to happen: one of the athletic directors in our league has to propose an amendment and get signatures from two or three other schools; then, that amendment goes up to the state level and gets proposed.

We as an executive board can propose amendments, too, and that's how the classification amendment came about. There was actually a classification committee, which I'm a part of as well, and we broke this classification amendment into two parts: one was just going back to having set numbers ... and the other piece of it was the socio-economic part."

RJ: What sparked your interest in terms of wanting to get involved with the WIAA?

GW: "My kids were all grown up and I thought, 'oh, this might be a good time.' The opportunity came about, and I got on it really to see if I couldn't make a difference in helping to save the sport of football. Football's in a little bit of danger, so I wanted to be a part of that decision-making process that might help the sport.

I also wanted to represent small schools, and be a strong proponent of small schools. I wanted to get the point across that small schools are different than large schools, and that we don't have to do everything the same way.

And so there's actually quite a few rules now that aren't just a cookie-cutter 'if we do it for the 2B schools we have to do it for the 4A schools or 3A schools.' We have some different rules for 1B and 2B schools, like being allowed to use 8th graders to fill out teams, or being allowed to opt-down in football only. So I wanted to be a proponent and get involved and active in that. So I felt good about that, I've gotten myself involved.

One task that I really got involved in and chaired is the RPI (Rating Percentage Index) Committee, and that's been an interesting process for basketball. And then this school year I headed the Football Seeding Committee. And those have been time-consuming and stressful at times, but a big part of why I got on is to be a part of some of those big decisions."

And I just love educating people about the WIAA, because they get a bad rap. And I've said, 'if you hate the WIAA, then you don't understand the WIAA.' Because a lot of the decisions they make aren't even the WIAA office's decision, it's us as athletic directors and leagues and everyone else.

RJ: Is there an example you can maybe point to where people might not be informed about how the WIAA really operates?

GW: We just went through the Representative Assembly and there's 53 voters that vote on these amendments. It's not the executive board's decision. We finalize and approve them, but it's the representatives at this assembly that represent all the schools around the state, and they vote on it. They're the ones that actually do the voting.

And people ask, 'how did this come about?' And the executive board-we do vote on a lot of things-but when it comes to big amendments like [the two that passed this year], it is the representatives that vote on them.

So that's another reason why I got on. I've learned a lot about the WIAA, and I'm still learning about how the WIAA works. But I'm trying to educate people on how it works and its process, which so many people don't understand.

RJ: What have been some of the benefits for yourself personally and then for LRS in the five years you've been involved with the WIAA?

GW: "It's not a paid position or anything like that, but I've made great contacts and formed great relationships, and that's helped [LRS], I think. The school's been awesome and my administration has been awesome about letting me attend about five or six meetings a year.

I go to a lot of scheduling things, but I think the advantage is that we, Lind-Ritzville-and now our athletic combine with Sprague, Washtucna and Kahlotus-are recognized and now kind of the go-to place if they have a question about small-school athletic combines. A lot of times they're calling me right away or asking me for my opinion.

So I think we benefit a lot by allowing me to be on the board, so I really appreciate the school board and our administration allowing me to do that and go to those meetings. And I do some things on the national level, and state level with RPI. And being involved with committees, that takes some more time as well.

I go and present awards at State Tournaments and I hand out trophies and stuff like that, so there's some of those responsibilities. It's been fun and very rewarding. I don't know how much longer I'm going to do it, but I'm looking forward to being the president under the new executive director. I'm running the meetings, but I don't have any more or less power than anyone else [on the board]. But I'll be setting the agenda and working really closely with the executive director on some tough issues.