NORTHFIELD — Brian Campbell is walking into a great situation as the new athletic director at Pioneer Valley Regional School.
Campbell — who was hired this summer to take over for Kerry Baird as the school’s AD — will take over an athletic department that has a baseball team which made it to the MIAA Div. 5 semifinal the past two years, a boys basketball team that reached the Div. 5 quarterfinals last winter, a field hockey team that has been in back-to-back Western Mass. finals and an ascending girls basketball program that reached the Div. 5 Round of 32 last year. Both soccer programs also earned state tournament spots last fall.
Campbell has long been involved with athletics in the area, and decided to take the opportunity for the AD job at Pioneer.
“I just liked the idea of being involved with athletics,” Campbell said. “I’ve been involved with athletics at every school I’ve worked at. I’m happy to be able to continue that.”
Campbell grew up in Millers Falls and graduated from Turners Falls High School in 2008. Since then he worked as a teacher in the Greenfield school system where he also coached the girls tennis team. He’s been a middle school English teacher at Pioneer for the last seven years, where he has spent time coaching JV volleyball, middle school basketball and baseball as well as serving as the boys tennis coach at Frontier the past two springs.
Having spent so much time spent teaching at Pioneer, Campbell said he has good relationships throughout the community as well as a good feel for the athletic programs at Pioneer, making the transition to the job a smooth one. He’ll take the first year to adapt to the job without coaching a team, but didn’t rule out returning to the sidelines in the future.
“I’m going to figure things out and make sure I’m able to do this job to the best of my ability,” Campbell said. “I’ve been a constant presence at every sporting event the school has had. I’m always there and have a good relationship with the families and students being a teacher there.”
The big thing for Campbell will be getting students to continue participating in athletics. While athletic participation is high at Pioneer, the small number of students in the building makes it a challenge to fill out rosters, with just 25 graduates in 2022 and 48 this past year.
With it being a small school, continuing to keep students on the fields and courts is a top priority for Campbell.
“I want to increase the participation in sports,” Campbell said. “I also want to make sure these kids feel recognized for their accomplishments.”
It was the outgoing Baird who suggested to Campbell that he should take the job, as he noted that being in the school system gave him a leg up for the position.
“Kerry was the one who suggested that I should apply and do it,” Campbell said. “She really was important in me even thinking about this seriously. This felt like an opportunity that I wouldn’t necessarily have had if I hadn’t worked at the school. I’m grateful for that and grateful for the school having the confidence in me to do a good job.”