Masters in Coaching Podcast- Episode XXII

Tim Cates talks with Mount Abraham Union HS Athletic Director Devin Wendel about his journey and earning his Masters Degree from the Concordia University Irvine's Masters in Coaching and Athletics Administration Program.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
From football player to athletic training toathletic director. His life has come full
circle from graduating from Mount Abraham UnionHigh School to now athletic director at his
alma mater. He is Devin Wendelland he joins his next on episode twenty
two of the Masters in Coaching podcast. Let's go. Hi, everybody,

(00:23):
I'm sim Kateson. Welcome to episodetwenty two of the Masters in Coaching Podcast
here on iHeartRadio and wherever you maybe downloading your podcast. Thanks for joining
us for another episode. Our guestthis week. He's a graduate of the
Masters in Coaching and Athletics Administration programat Concordia University, Irvine. He'll be
a keynote speaker at the California CoachesConference with this July. He's now athletic

(00:47):
director at Mount Abraham Union Middle Schooland High School in Vermont. He is
Devin Wendell and he joins us now. Devin, thanks for coming on the
podcast. How are you? I'mdoing great? How are you doing today?
I'm doing great? All right?Devin, give our listeners kind of
an update on what's happening at MountAbraham Union High School right now there in
Vermont. Where do you guys nowstand as we get ready to flip the

(01:08):
calendar to June and we kind ofwind out of this pandemic. Yeah,
so we actually just finished up ourregular season this afternoon or yesterday that is,
So we're gonna be going into theplayoffs next week for our spring programs,
and you know, knock on wood, we've been We've been pretty lucky
so far. You know, Vermontthroughout this whole pandemic has been one of

(01:30):
the lowest case rates in the nationall the way long, all the way
along. So we're you know,we're really thankful for where we're at and
that we've been able to get youknow, the entire regular season in and
now we're looking forward to some postseasoncompetition next week. Devin, I'm curious
here in Los Angeles and California highschool athletics, the fall and winter sports

(01:51):
got moved to the spring, andeverything was kind of crammed in here until
about a three and a half monthwindow to get the sports in. What
about for you guys in Vermont?How are you guys affected with the pandemic
and high school athletics there at MountAbraham Union. Yeah, so we had
so we had a delay for boththe fall and the winter season. So
the fall season was delayed by acouple of weeks if I remember correctly,

(02:12):
all of our competitions, everybody hadto be wearing masks, you know,
during play, before play, afterplay, you know, coaches, staff,
officials, players, everybody. Samewith the winner season, and then
with the winner season there was nospectators allowed, which was a very different
thing that we experienced. You know, to go into a gym and you

(02:34):
got you know, two teams anda couple of people running the table and
that's it. You know, maybesome cutout head you know, and some
signs and posters that fans made toyou know, kind of show their support
to the kids. But definitely definitelya different year, and you know,
everybody had to be extremely flexible andyou know, willing to adapt and change,
and you know, you just neverknew what that next piece of information

(02:59):
where guidance was going to be.You know, from week to week,
we'd we'd hear a rumor about,hey, you know, some new guidance
is coming out and it sounds likewe could be going to you know,
this new procedure. And then nextthing, you know, the guidance comes
out and it's completely different. Sowe really had to kind of stay on
our toes and make sure that wewere, you know, offering programming to
the best of our ability while keepingit safe. And uh, you know,

(03:22):
I think we I think we've beensuccessful in that, and I think
that the state overall has done anice job with you know, keeping cases
at a minimum, which then allowedus to you know, have a have
a relatively almost I dare say,normal spring season. We're getting there.
Devin Windell is our guest you're onthe Masters and Coaching podcast. He's the
athletic director of Mount Abraham Union HighSchool in Vermont. Your road to get

(03:45):
to where you're at now has beenan interesting one, Devin. You you
played high school football at Mount AbrahamUnion, you went to college and played
football, and then you had somestops before ultimately coming back and being the
athletic director at your alma water.Tell our listeners a little bit about how
you got to where you're at now. Yeah, so so, yeah,
my my story is a little bitdifferent. So, you know, graduated

(04:08):
from Mount Abraham in two thousand andseven, had an injury my senior year
playing football that kind of waylaid myentire senior season. You know, we
didn't have an athletic trainer on staff, so I didn't really have anybody telling
me like what to do or howto you know, rehab or get better.
So in looking at colleges, Iend up at Endicott College. I

(04:30):
knew I wanted to play football.I knew I wanted to do something with
athletics, and I you know startedlooking into their athletic training program and it
just seemed to be a great fit. So I was able. I was
lucky enough to play football there inmy freshman year and then went on to
graduate with a Bachelor of Science andAthletic Training from Endicott, which was you
know, some incredible experience. AndI got to work as a student athletic

(04:51):
trainer with the you know, withthe football team my senior year. So
it was great to be able tocontinue to work with all the players that
I got to that I kind ofcame in with when I was a freshman,
so but in a different capacity,you know, getting them back on
the field versus you know, pummelingeach other out on the field. And
so so from there, uh youknow, came back practiced as an athletic

(05:13):
trainer a co athletic director on montPelier High School for a year, and
then I landed a job over atYou thirty two as an interim which is
a local high school in the Montpelierarea. Uh. And then I and
then I was able to start upan athletic training program here at Mount Abraham,
which was kind of my dream allalong, you know, to to
give back to my community and tocreate a position where you know, there's

(05:34):
somebody there to help the kids inthe afternoon, and somebody there to support
them and make sure they're safe andmake sure they're getting back on the field,
you know, quickly but but safely, you know, something we had
never had before. So from there, I was then actually offered a full
time position over at You thirty two, So I went back there for a
few years, uh in a rolethat was kind of a combo, you

(05:57):
know, athletic trainer, assistant athleticdirector. I worked my way up to
becoming the athletic director and head athletictrainer, you know, kind of managing
both both the athletic program and thesports medicine program. Did that for one
year and then next thing, youknow, the you know, the athletic
directors that had been here i MountAbraham for you know, thirty years,
one of which was my varsity baseballcoach in high school, Jeff Stetson.

(06:21):
Him and his wife were were theco athletic directors here. They retired,
So you know, I was stillliving in Bristol at the time, which
is where Mount Abraham is located,and you know, I just thought to
myself, like, what a greatopportunity to you know, put my hat
in the ring and see if Ican get this job and give back to
my community. And that was Thatwas five years ago now and where I

(06:42):
am. So since then, youknow, I've tried to basically approach the
programming here at the school in away that you know, supports all of
our kids from the athletic administration sideof things, the sports medicine side of
things. And along the way,I got my certificate as a strength and
Conditioning specialist, which is something reallyimportant to me. And then I'm very

(07:03):
passionate about is the idea of youknow, getting helping kids to meet their
meet their goals and meet their needsand be successful at the high school level.
Because again I remember when I wentto Endicott College. We didn't have
any sort of formal, you know, strength training program here at the school,

(07:24):
so I went in much weaker,let's just to put it lightly,
than all the other kids on theteam. And I just wasn't prepared,
you know, I wasn't I wasn'tused to that weight room setting. I
wasn't used to that culture. AndI think it's so important for kids to
get their toes dipped in at thehigh school level to be prepared if they

(07:45):
want to do something at the nextlevel, because that's that's almost a guarantee
that that will be a requirement.You know, whatever sports you're playing,
you're probably going to see some timein the weight room at the college level.
And so you know, I've I'vetried to, you know, like
I said, Earl or just provideas much of a well rounded experience for
our kids as I can. Youknow, good programming, make sure it's
safe, make sure they're taking carefor make sure that there's somebody to respond

(08:11):
to an emergency, and also provideprogramming that you know, helps these kids
get bigger, faster, stronger andmeet their their needs and their goals,
and also to help them be successfuland whatever sport or activity that they choose
to play. Devin Windell is ourgath athletic director activities coordinator at Mount Abraham
Union Middle School and High School inVermont here on the Masters and Coaching podcast.

(08:35):
Devin, you've you've kind of splityour role now, I mean you're
athletic director also athletic training sports medicine. Is it hard to juggle both?
Is there still a passion for athletictraining and sports medicine since that's kind of
how you got your foot in thedoor in education. Yeah? Absolutely,
I mean I work really closely withour We're lucky enough to have an excellent
athletic trainer here on staff, ornames Meg Quiet, and she does an

(08:58):
amazing job here, and so I'mlucky enough to work closely with her and
collaborate with her and just make surethat we're, you know, keeping up
to date with all of our bestpractices. I certainly miss the you know,
some of the daily stuff with theathletic training and sports medside of things,
so I try to pop in andhelp out when and where I can.
But you know, Make does anamazing job here, so we're very

(09:20):
thankful to have her Devin, I'vegot a high school sophomore who right now
is in the athletic training program ather high school here in southern California,
and that's something that she wants topursue when she moves on to college.
For you, somebody who has beenin athletic training for most of your professional
career, now, how have youseen it change the training the sports medicine

(09:41):
really over the last fifteen years,because it's evolved so much. I think
more than people thought I could everget to. Yeah, I think you
hit the nail on the head there. You know. I was just talking
to one of our state representatives atthe VPA, which you know, governs
all of our state athletic programming,and you know, I was talking to
him about how exactly that, youknow, ten years ago. Uh,

(10:07):
let's just go back twelve years whenI was in college. You know,
if you concussions used to be graded. You know, if you oh,
you got knocked out, Okay,you've got a grade three concussion and you're
out for a month. You know, where you've got a grade two and
you're out for two weeks or whatever. The old protocols used to be back
then compared to now you know,there's an entire return to learn program to
make sure you're ready to get backinto school before you even touch the playing

(10:28):
field. So things have changed dramatically, you know, I think about a
few of the big ones here inthe state of Vermont, you know it
in particular, it's you know,concussion protocols, uh, you know,
pitch counts for baseball and soft forbaseball. That is he heat policies,
cold policies, so making sure thatkids are acclimatized to weather, making sure

(10:50):
that you're shutting down or modifying practicesif that heat index gets too hot or
for us, you know who,we get pretty chilly in the winter,
so making sure that our late fall, winter and early spring activities have a
cold policy as well, so wedon't put you know, a team out
there where they can get frostbite.You know. Additionally, off of that,
we you know, we now requiretraining and I forget what year we

(11:13):
instituted this, but it was justyou know, probably five years ago,
four or five years ago that wejust instituted, you know, every coach
needing to be trained in CPR andA and D before they even start coaching
kids at the high school or middleschool levels. So I think that we've
really stepped up our game as faras student safety is concerned. And you

(11:35):
know, I like to be atthe forefront of it. I like to
know the most up to date andmodern practices best practices that people are using.
I mean, this year, forexample, we actually created an online
emergency Action Plan app, so ourcoaches can basically, with the click of
a button, click the app iconon the front page of their iPhone or

(11:58):
smartphone and it brings up all ofour emergency action plans, heat policy,
cold policy, you know, emergencycontacts, my phone number, Meg's phone
number, email addresses, all ofthat with the click of a button,
as opposed to you know, handingthem a piece of paper that you know
might might never come out of themetkit, you know. So so I

(12:18):
think just those advancements and technology advancementsand just people thinking outside of the box,
and I think, you know,healthcare professionals and athletic directors being willing
to share those resources has been anincredible benefit to me. And you know,
I love sharing what I know withothers as well to help them out.
So Devin Wendell is our guest hereon the Masters in Coaching podcast and

(12:41):
a great time to sell everybody aboutConcordia University Irvin's Masters in Coaching and Athletics
Administration program. The summer session ison right now, but if you want
to start thinking about that fall semester, check out CUI dot edu slash coaching
if you want to get more informationabout the program and you want to just
get in touch with fellow administrators,athletic directors, coaches. There's a great

(13:05):
California Coaches Conference coming up this Julytwelfth through the twenty second. It's a
live interactive conference with alumni, withcollege, high school coaches, administrators,
keynote speakers like Corey Close of UCLA, Jason Negro high school football coaches,
Saint John Bosco High School here insouthern California. Devin, our guest today,

(13:26):
will be one of the keynote speakers. More on that in a second.
But for you, Devon, you'rea graduate of the Masters and Coaching
Athletics Administration program here at Concordia University, Irvine. Why why did you decide
to go back and pursue that master'sdegree when you did? Yeah? So
for me, it's it's all aboutgetting better and making you know, myself

(13:46):
better, at those around me better, and at the end of the day,
providing a better experience for our studentathletes and coaches. You know,
I see my role very much soas a support role. You know,
my job, I feel, ifdone correctly, uh can go unnoticed.
You know, the field should beset up, the coaches should be going

(14:07):
to the right location, the kidsare arriving on time. You know,
they're they're playing at a high level, and hopefully if everything is done correctly,
I'm not noticed. You know,I'm kind of in the background.
We can sure that everything ticks,everything works, you know, the work
and effort has been put in aheadof time so that these kids just go
out and they're none the wiser aboutwhat, you know, what went into

(14:31):
making sure that that game happened,or what went into making sure that the
weight room was scheduled and you know, maintained and cleaned and all those little
things that people don't see. Ireally, I really like to be good
at that, and I really liketo get better at those things. And
I think that what drew me to, you know, Concordia was the fact

(14:52):
that they're the curriculum just really spoketo exactly that there's a there's a lot
of other programs out there that area little bit more business oriented, maybe
a little bit more college oriented.As far as athletic administration goes, I
personally prefer to work with high schooland middle school age students. I just
find them to be very refreshing andfun to work with and it's and it's

(15:16):
great to watch them like learn andgrow as I myself learn and grow.
And I think that, you know, the whole goal is just keep getting
better so you can keep making yourprograms better and over time, you know,
it's it'll show. And I thinkthat that was kind of my my
first step. And as I gotdeeper into the program and you know,
continued to take classes each semester,it was pretty evident that it was paying

(15:37):
off and you know, teaching mesome great lessons and ones that I could
apply, if not that day,the very next day, or you know,
make a plan to apply them inthe near future, so that you
know that experience was invaluable. Beingin Vermont, I assume you were commuting
back and forth to southern California tofinish your master's program, So you did

(16:00):
it online and how convenient was thatfor you in your schedule? Uh,
it was the only way I couldmake something like that work. You know,
my my typical work days, youknow, show up at eight am
and leave when the last event isover. And so during the winter season,
Uh, you know that could bea thirty nine, nine thirty o'clock
at night, you know, twelveeleven, twelve thirteen hour days as many

(16:21):
ads. No, that's that's whatyou got to put in to make sure
that to make sure that everything keepsticking and everything keeps working. So the
ability to do kind of the asynchronousschedule and you know, sit in on
on any sort of classes and stuffwhen I had to, but also have
that flexibility to hand a paper inearly or write on time or on the
weekend, or you know, watchthe the class the lesson itself, you

(16:49):
know late at night after I gothome, you know, eating dinner at
nine o'clock at night, watching anhour's worth of the class session. So
those that it the online piece ofit was incredible, and especially throughout throughout
the pandemic, I don't I don'tknow how I would have done it otherwise.
You know, for me, itwas just kind of like keep on

(17:11):
rolling. You know, there wasalmost no change with the pandemic because the
whole curriculum was already was already online. Didn't have to change anything. That
part of it was amazing. Whereasyou know, I talked to a lot
of other people who were taking inperson classes or you know, commuting up
to the Burrowington area here in Vermont, and then they all of a sudden
they had to switch to online,and it was like this huge, huge

(17:33):
shift for them that I didn't haveto go through. So I was extremely
thankful for the timing of that.Devin, I mentioned it earlier. You're
gonna be one of the keynote speakeris at Concordia University your Mind's Masters in
Coaching Athletics Administration Program, California CoachesConference July twelfth or the twenty second.
How excited are you to be apart of this and be able to go
out and talk to other coaches,administrators, athletic directors, people in your

(17:56):
field. Yeah, to be honest, I'm pretty humbled. Uh. You
know, I when I got thewhen the school reached out to me to
present, I had a lot ofquestions at first, you know, first,
foremost, why why are you pickingme? But but yeah, no,
I'm really excited and I'm I'm reallyhopeful to share some information. And

(18:17):
I think maybe what I'm most excitedabout is being able to interact with more
coaches. You know, in thepast and in my role as an athletic
director, a lot of the workthat I do behind the scenes is dealing
with other athletic directors from other schools, other states. You know, I'm
really thankful for our state and nationalorganizations as far as athletic directors go.
But I'm really excited to to interactwith some coaches at this conference and and

(18:41):
share with them, uh, sometips and tricks and some information that I
think could help them as far asstrength and conditioning goes. You know,
a lot of other presentations have beenmore catered to, you know, the
management of of an strength and conditioningprogram for for a d you know,
how do you keep it safe?How do you you know, how do

(19:03):
you make sure the schedules and allthat stuff work the logistical side of things,
right, And I'm a little bitmore excited right now to talk to
coaches about the nitty gritty stuff youknow that Hey, you know, how
how do you make your kids bigger, stronger, faster, especially if you
don't have a strength coach. Ifyou don't have those resources, you know,
what do you do? So I'mexcited too. I'm excited for the
interaction and quite honestly for me,I love the Q and a part at

(19:27):
the end. So I'm really excitedto have that kind of back and forth
window at the end of the conversationto hear hear what other coaches are going
through here's here's some stories from themand being able to hopefully help them and
at the end of the day learnsomething from them as well. And I
hope they pick up some good informationfor myself. Well, if you want
to hear more from Devin, he'llbe at the California Coaches Conferences summer.

(19:48):
It's in July. Check it allout. It's CUI dot edu slash coaching.
Devin, thank you so much forthe time. Thank you for sharing
about your school, your background,your history. Thank you so much for
for telling your story to our listenerstoday. Yeah, thank you again so
much for having me. Yeah,really really enjoyed it and looking forward to
the conference. All right, there, he goes Devin Wendell. The athletic

(20:10):
director at Mount Abraham Union Middle Schooland High School in Vermont. He's a
graduate of Concordia University, Irvine's Mastersin Coaching and Athletics Administration program, and
again he'll be one of the keynotespeakers at the California Coaches Conference coming up
this July. For all the informationa Concordia University Irvine's Masters in Coaching and
Athletics Administration Program the conference, goto CUI dot edu slash coaching. That's

(20:33):
CUI dot edu slash coaching. Alright. Episode twenty two of the Masters in
Coaching podcast is in the books untilnext time. Thanks for listening so long.