Familiar face new position

New+Athletic+Director+Matt+Neff+standing+in+front+of+the+hawk+Statue+at+Lakeland+High+School.+

New Athletic Director Matt Neff standing in front of the hawk Statue at Lakeland High School.

Michael Locke, News Writer

There is a familiar face leading Lakeland activities this year.

Matt Neff is the new activities director at Lakeland Highschool. Neff is no longer the Principal Assistant, Mr. Etchison is the Principal Assistant for the school.

In his new position, he deals with any of the activities that take place in the school. Though his title has changed, Neff thinks this is a great challenge, “I’ve got to encounter new students that I don’t typically engage with.”

Neff even stated that this job is fast-paced. “From the time you get here from the time you leave, you’re juggling 15 different balls around, it’s been a lot of fun,” Neff said.

Mr. Neff is a graduate of Lakeland Highschool. 23 years ago, Mr. Neff taught and coached at a high school in Oregon where he was the head wrestling coach. Two years later, he went to Timberlake and coached wrestling and football. After being at Timberlake for about 12 years, Neff ended up at Lakeland Junior High coaching cross country and wrestling.

He doesn’t plan on changing any of the activities in the school, his goal is to put student-athletes in different activities in the best possible position to compete.

Coach Kiefer said that he has been nothing but impressed about how Mr. Neff goes about the job and the professionalism that he uses.

“Mr. Neff has a lot to offer, just his personality and how he tackles tasks that are laid out for him that he’s well suited for the job. Having those challenges in front of him is something I think he enjoys”, said Kiefer.

Neff expects a positive experience out of the new job. “I really like this new job, it has been a great challenge moving from the discipline and policy side to work more with the activities in the school,” Neff said.