Newfield promotes new athletic director

With high school sports back in full swing, there’s a familiar face at the helm of all things Newfield athletics.

Hank Neubert is the new athletic director of the Trojans after spending over 20 years coaching in the county. Most recently, Neubert was the head coach of the Newfield football team—which is now led by his defensive coordinator Ian Valentine—for the last two seasons. Neubert has worked closely with multiple athletic directors, so he’s seen firsthand how they operate such a multi-faceted job.

“This has been something that I’ve had amazing people to watch through my over two decades of coaching,” Neubert said. “I feel very well-prepared, very honored, and just thrilled and excited about what I can do for our kids, our coaches, and our entire community.”

It seemed almost inevitable that Neubert would become an athletic director given that two of his family members have had that role. His mother was the AD at Lansing for two years in the mid-1980s while he was attending middle school and high school in the school district. Meanwhile his younger brother Tom is the current AD at St. Francis DeSales High School in Ohio. Tom’s first piece of advice to Hank? “Make sure you want to do this, because it’s a lot of work.”

“He’s been really supportive,” Neubert said. “He’s at a really large school, so [with] the experiences that he’s had, it’s been nice to be able to kind of take away from the stories he’s told through the years to my family and then just to pick his brain a little bit anytime.”

Neubert takes over from Jeff Augustine, who was at the helm for 20 years. One of the first things he did was to sit down with Augustine to talk things over about his new role. Of the eight years he’s worked under Augustine, it was the longest they had an uninterrupted conversation.

“It was fantastic,” Neubert said. “He went through everything from budget stuff to ordering stuff. But the biggest thing with Coach Augustine is his meticulous organization with many aspects of it. Just being able to talk to him and him to give me a little bit more insight on the things that I knew he was experiencing was something that really helped me settle into the role early in the summertime.”

Newfield is the perfect example of how the school and its athletic programs are the hub of the community. The most notable example in recent memory is the boys basketball team’s state championship triumph in 2022. Neubert credited all the coaches in the district for helping cultivate a strong environment for student-athletes and spectators alike.

“We have some really dedicated coaches,” Neubert said. “We have coaches that are here because they want to be. They want to do what’s right for the kids. They want to do right for the program. They do want to involve the parents, grandparents and the community. We want people to come out and watch the kids. You’re not gonna win every game. You’re not gonna be successful every single season. But we want our student-athletes to see that the community comes out and supports them whatever sport it may be, whether it be at the varsity level or our modified level.”

Another thing that Neubert takes immense pride in is the academic success of the student-athletes. Last school year, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) recognized Newfield as a School of Excellence because over 75% of the varsity teams received the Scholar-Athlete Team Award. In order to qualify for this award, the team’s average GPA for 75% of the roster must be 90 or above.

“Academically, we really do a great job,” Neubert said. “What they’ve done is really working with students to be well-rounded, to take care of things athletically, to try and do the right thing as citizens of our community. There’s always been an emphasis on academics to keep you eligible to play sports. But more importantly, when you’re playing sports and you’re doing things, it’s easier to manage your time to budget and your time. Playing sports is a huge part of that time management for teenagers. The busier you are, the more you have to have your time planned out for yourself, and that helps them be successful academically.”

Along with keeping up Newfield’s academic prowess, Neubert hopes to also increase participation and eventually get more students to play multiple sports.

“We’re not a big enough district—no matter how good we have certain kids in soccer, volleyball, track and field—for them to just specialize in one sport,” Neubert said. “The more kids you get involved with the great coaches we have, if they just give us a shot and buy into what we’re trying to build, it’s my hope that we keep them for one sport. Then [they’ll say], ‘Hey, I enjoyed that. I want to play another sport now in the springtime.’”