In looking for someone to head up its athletic department, Bonny Eagle High School turned to within the district to hire a familiar face.

On Aug. 1, former Bonny Eagle Middle School Athletic Director Michael LeGage moved up to become the new AD at Bonny Eagle High. LeGage takes over for recently departed Athletic Director Gary Stevens.

LaGage has extensive experience in the district. For the last 10 years, he has been in the Bonny Eagle school system at the middle school, serving in a variety of roles.

“I worked at the middle school as a teacher, AD and coach,” LeGage said. “At the middle school, I was a phys. ed teacher, so my career has been devoted to athletics. I think that gave me an advantage and I’ve had an opportunity to manage an athletic program at a different level. But I have had that experience.”

LeGage began his career in the Bonny Eagle system in 1998. In that time, he has seen many of his students at the middle school move on to the high school and have great athletic careers. One unique aspect of his new role is that LeGage will have the chance to reconnect with some of his former middle school students. It’s an opportunity he is looking forward to very much.

“I’m anxious for school to get started,” he said. “I’m anxious to see the kids again and reconnect with kids I haven’t seen since sixth, seventh or eighth grade. The connection with students is important to me.”

LeGage took over as athletic director at the beginning of the month and has supervised the opening of his first season with the opening of preseason practices for the school’s fall sports programs this week. LeGage is looking forward to working with all of his coaches and says in his first weeks on the job, things have been a little hectic as he is not just the activities director but also an assistant principal.

“Getting my arms wrapped around the whole process of the job has been a challenge because it includes both athletic administration as well as assistant principal duties,” LeGage said. “There are a lot of different factors to the position so getting my arms around everything has been tough. “It was great, though, because I already knew the kids, I knew a lot of the staff and the coaches. So that’s been really helpful. I’ve just got to develop a routine and an understanding of all the facets of the job and do so in a short period of time.”

LeGage is looking forward to hitting the ground running and continuing to help build Bonny Eagle’s athletic programs. LeGage said he is not wrapped up in wins and losses as a way to get students involved. He believes that the proper way to generate interest is to provide a great experience for the student and the coach.

“I think if you can support the coaches to provide a successful experience for the kids then the kids will get involved,” he said. “How do you measure success, is it wins and losses? I don’t know I think it’s more about at the end of the day the kids say ‘that was a great thing to be involved in.’ That’s what attracts kids to programs. When kids that finish a season and go to their friends and say ‘why don’t you do this?’ That generates excitement about athletics.”

For his part, LeGage said he has always enjoyed sports and especially high school sports. He played football, basketball and track while he was a student at Cheverus. And he added he has always enjoyed attending high school games and really enjoys the impact it can have on a community.

“I’m a high school sports fan,” he said. “I enjoy going to all of the games and have attended as often as I could. Athletics also rallies the community. You go to any community and you look at the Friday night football game and it is a community impact. That’s any place not just here. When you walk into the gym for a basketball game and the gym is filled with people. Athletics is a huge rallying point for the community and I think that’s important too.”

Having been on the job now for about two weeks, LeGage is not looking to set the world on fire. He wants to provide support for all activities at Bonny Eagle. If he does that, he said he would consider his efforts a success.

“How would I measure whether I was successful or not at the end of the year? If the students had a tremendous experience in their involvement in athletics and activities here at the high school,” LeGage said. “Secondly I want to make sure that the staff feel well supported that at the end of the day the staff can say he did everything he could to help me be successful. Student success and teacher success would be measurements of my success.”

With the start of the new school year just a couple of weeks away, LeGage is ready for his new role.

“I just have to say that I’m really excited about starting here and being here,” said LeGage. “I’m energized by the challenges and excited for the opportunity that I’ve been given.”

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