Not only will there be a new athletic director and new varsity head football coach at Riverside-Brookfield High School next year, there will also be three new assistant athletic directors as the RB athletic department goes through wholesale change and an infusion of new blood.
The new assistant athletic directors, part-time positions with a stipend, will be Todd Fridrych for fall, Jenna Passananti for winter and Dan Monahan for spring.
Their appointments were approved by unanimous vote at last week’s school board meeting.
“We’re moving forward with athletics,” said new incoming Athletic Director Art Ostrow, who served as assistant athletic director for spring this year. “We’re starting a new era at RB. I’m excited and I know the assistants are excited and the coaches are excited. I’m looking forward to working with the students, the faculty and the community.”
Fridrych will step down as girls swim coach but continue as boys swim coach. Passananti is a Spanish teacher completing her second year at RB. Passananti, a four-year, all-conference volleyball player at Illinois Wesleyan University, has been a lower-level volleyball coach at RB. Monahan has served as a varsity baseball coach, and more recently an underclass baseball coach as well as serving as a lower-level coach in football and basketball.
The assistant athletic directors typically help with scheduling and supervision of athletic events, but Ostrow says that he plans to increase their duties. He wants them to help lead a new leadership program for athletes and to help mentor coaches.
Two assistant athletic directors on the payroll in 2009-10 year resigned last month. Sandy Czajka, a math teacher who was assistant athletic director for fall is going to attend graduate school. Anita Krieger, a longtime teacher and coach at RB who has served as an assistant athletic director for winter since her retirement, also stepped down.
– Bob Skolnik
