Lakeland High School takes great pride in its sports programs, and the school can thank Mr. Neff for leading and organizing them to be their best.
He communicates with other high schools to determine the season’s schedule and works out game rescheduling and where and when a team will play.
Neff’s primary responsibility is ensuring all extracurricular activities function to the best of their abilities. That ensures goals for academic success, sportsmanship, character and competitiveness are met. Neff ensures LHS has transportation to every game, the appropriate equipment each team needs, officials and the right coaches.
To hire the right coach for a team, Neff puts the applying coach through an interview process, and through that, he tries to position individuals in places with high expectations, such as academic success, sportsmanship, character and competitiveness.
He feels that once a team has a talented team but doesn’t have good people, he wants teams to reach their full potential with leadership. Neff wants to watch a team grow together as players and people, so having a good attitude is essential.
“Good people make good teams,” Neff said.
While Neff is not in school or doing anything work-related, he likes to stay active and spend time with his family and friends. Neff has a family with three kids he follows all over the place while they all play sports.
He likes to golf and always finds ways to compete. He likes to be on the water in the warm weather during the summer, he likes to hunt when the season comes around, and he just likes to be active in anything outside.
Neff was a coach himself before he became the athletic director at LHS. He has always been highly competitive and will do whatever to ensure our program stays strong.
Neff wants to do what is best for the school and will continue to do this until LHS goes above and beyond to achieve every goal.
Neff’s goal is to continue to rise in the ranks of schools of excellence that measure our athletic and academic standings. He wants to become the number one school in Idaho eventually.
Neff plans to travel to warm places and be in the warm after retirement, but most importantly, he would like to be there for his kids while they carry on with their lives after high school and into college. He plans to support his kids through whatever adventure they may take on.
“Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one,” said Neff. “So if I make it to retirement, I plan to chase warm weather, be active and support my kids with whatever they decide to do in their lives.”
Neff currently has a daughter in grade 10 at LHS. When she came here in grade 10, she did not think she would see her dad as much as she did. She feels that if he didn’t work at the school, he would be doing something related to sports.
“I don’t really see him that much because normally he’s doing stuff for sports,” Chloe Neff said.
Neff feels working in the same school as his daughter is a blessing and a curse. He hopes his presence doesn’t affect her high school experience.
Karstyn Keifer is one of Chloe Neff’s best friends, and she appreciates coming into the school with a friendly face to see. Although she only sees him as LHS’s athletic director, she can go to him if she needs something personal or anything to do with sports.
“I feel like I can talk to him wherever I need to about anything sports-related or not,” Keifer said.