Chris Maury named new athletic director
BY PETER A. SUTTERS JR. INDEPENDENT WRITER
It is as if the job were tailor made for him, blending experience from both his professional and personal lives. For Chris Maury, island builder and unabashed sports enthusiast, it represents many years of dedication to craft and sport, which culminate in this new chapter of his life: Athletic Director of Nantucket High School.

Chris Maury

"It's something I wanted to do for a number of years," said Maury. "For a number of reasons, personal and business, I was never in the position to do so."

After talking with his family, Maury decided it was the right time to step away from his design-and-build construction business as well as step from the dugout of the Lady Whaler's Softball team, where he has coached for the past 15 years.

"I've been doing what I have been doing because it is a passion of mine," said Maury. "It has been nothing but rewarding and satisfying. I'm looking at this as stepping into that on a larger scale."

One of the ways in which Maury wants to make his role as the new Athletic Director more rewarding is to bring his coaching mantra to the athletic department.

"I think athletics is a huge part of educating students," said Maury. "What I try to do is teach them lessons on the field that they can take into the classroom as well as their personal life. The more kids you have involved in athletics, the better your school system is. Its also a great building block for school spirit and pride, which goes a long way in improving all aspects of the community."

Maury grew up on Nantucket. After graduating from Clemson University School of Architecture in 1975, he returned to the island and started his design and construction business. He has three adult children, all Nantucket High School graduates, and three stepchildren and six grandchildren. His wife Bethany will be taking over the day-to-day management of his business, while Maury transitions from scheduling subcontractors to varsity sports.

He will start his new position as the Athletic Director on July 1.

"I deal with large budgets and scheduling day in and day out," said Maury. "I think that background will help. It's a business that has to deal with the weather and scheduling different people to do different tasks at different times."

Being in the athletic program at Nantucket High School for the past 18 years, doesn't hurt as Maury knows the system and the people who are involved in it.

"It's nice because I can hit the ground running," said Maury. "It gives me a handle on how to approach things."

While Maury has the experience, he is not resting on his laurels. He already has a list of goals.

"One of the things I want to work on is creating a handbook for basically all of the coaches, students and parents to have," he said. "I want to have some uniformity in how we do things and what we want to accomplish as a program. We're very fortunate to have a veteran coaching staff and they will all be able to run things their way, but I want to get everybody on the same page so everybody knows what we are expecting."

Another goal of Maury is to get more Nantucket teams in leagues, rather than playing as independents. Playing in leagues, like the basketball and football teams do, affords student athletes the ability to compete in playoffs and for standouts to join all-star teams. Independent leagues are much tougher to manage because there is not a set list of teams to play and the number of games each team is able to compete in depends on finding other teams willing to play.

Maury also said he would take a hard look at "pay for play," which has been discussed by the school committee for a number of years as a way to off set the cost of running the athletic department.

"I think it has its pros and cons," said Maury. "The biggest thing you have to do is make sure there is an avenue to offer scholarships to students who can't afford to play. I would never want to deny someone the ability to play a sport because they could not afford it. Thankfully, we live in a pretty affluent community, which is exceptionally supportive. The bottom line is no one would be limited from playing a sport if they wanted to."

Maury said he has received many congratulatory comments from members of the community and even took his squad aside prior to last Friday's softball practice to tell the team about his appointment.

"They we're all very happy for me and I have been getting text messages from past players as well," said Maury. "But I told them, the position is not about me. It's about them. They are the ones who have made the team successful and I hope I can bring

that same success to my new role." I