Manage the coaches and referees. Check. Supply the athletic trainers. Check. Make sure Friday night football runs smoothly. Check. These were mental notes that physical education teacher Brian Sullivan had to remember as Athletic Director for MVHS.
Until now.
Due to a new job offer at the district, Sullivan decided this year to step down as MVHS AD for a district role.
“I felt it was in the best interest to the school if I didn’t try [to] take on my new role with the district and try to be AD at MV,” Sullivan said. “So when I accepted this job, the first thing that I did was told Mrs. Scott that.”
When the time came to find a new AD for the school, Sullivan already had a teacher in mind. At the beginning of last year, history teacher Nick Bonacorsi had approached Sullivan, asking about the responsibilities and work of being an AD. After discussing the position with Sullivan and the school board, Bonacorsi was chosen as the new MVHS AD.
Bonacorsi was inspired to be an AD due to his passion for sports and the work that Sullivan did in order to get sports more into the spotlight at MV, such as working with CCS to get teams scholar athlete status, and creating posters with MVHS athletes to post around campus.
“I wanted to be an AD because I’m passionate about sports,” Bonacorsi said. “I think Mr. Sullivan did a good job last year of bringing athletics into the spotlight a little bit more at MVHS. I thought it was something great for the campus and I wanted to continue that.”
Dean of Students, Nico Flores, who works closely with Bonacorsi in the Athletic Department believes Bonacorsi will be suitable as AD:
Photo by Stephanie Lam.
“[Bonacorsi] cares about our students, and he cares about our athletics,” Flores said. “When you combine those things, you have yourself a really solid athletic director. He has only been athletic director for a month, but in that time he has handled challenging situations incredibly, and has put us in a very good direction for the upcoming school year.”
Junior Brendan Hughes, a previous varsity baseball player on Bonacorsi’s team, also believes that Bonacorsi will be an acceptable AD due to Bonacorsi’s background both in teaching and coaching.
“I think Bonacorsi is a good AD, not only has been a coach and a teacher before and can relate to the student athletes really well,” Hughes said. “Bonacorsi is always cool and collective, and really relatable.”
One of the main concerns that Bonacorsi has with being an AD, however, is the amount of time he spends in school working. According to Sullivan, being an AD is a full time job, requiring one to stay at school 12-14 hours a day and staying even later during football and basketball nights. With a baby to take care of, three history classes to teach, and meetings in the afternoon and come baseball season, practices everyday, Bonacorsi braces himselffor the heavy workload.
“Obviously I’m going to be busy, [but] it’s a decision that my wife and I made together,” Bonacorsi said, “She knew that this was important to me. It’s just something we will plan into our day. Hopefully I can come home early enough to put our baby to bed.”
With a passion for sports and a determination to bring sports further into the spotlight at MVHS, Bonacorsi feels ready to embrace the role of AD.
“Two years ago,” Flores said. “Bonacorsi was thinking about [becoming] an athletic director. I don’t know if he was really ready for that position [at that time],but it certainly is the right time for him now.”
