Newton’s new head Cardinal

Scott Garvis is crazy about sports. It's a big part of what makes him good at his job.

A love of community sports and student-athletes has led him to Newton, where he now leads all things Cardinals as the new athletic director of Newton Senior High School.

Garvis, 38, brings a highly-successful 15-year career as an athletic director to NHS. And after 15 years, his passion for what he does is stronger than ever.

"Just having the opportunity to see how much impact you've had on the kids drives you. Otherwise you'd have to be crazy to do this job," he said. "But I love it and have a great passion for athletics and education, which I believe are one in the same."

Garvis arrived in Newton July 29 and had his first official day on the job three days later, taking over the position held by Dave Kalkhoff. Though he's still getting his feet wet in town, the impression he's taken in is one he knows the athletic department and he can thrive in.

"There's great community support here," he said. "A bunch of great people. I had a chance to meet a lot of kids with baseball and softball games. I'm really looking forward to being here and having the opportunity to lead the athletic department. When I was in high school in Iowa, Newton was kind of the football powerhouse and very good at athletics. I want to foster that kind of winning atmosphere."

Garvis grew up about 70 miles north of Newton near Eldora, where he went to Eldora-New Providence High School. He went on to earn his bachelor's degree at Westmar University in Le Mars in 1997, also earning experience there as an assistant football coach and intramurals director.

He was a busy man right out of college, serving as football recruiting coordinator and activities director at William Penn University in Oskaloosa from 1997-1999. Those positions laid the foundation for his first athletic director gig for smallish Mar Mac Community Schools in Monona from 1999 to 2004. He served as head football coach at the same time.

Garvis made a sizeable jump up after that to athletic director and assistant principal of Muscatine High School from 2004-2006, simultaneosly earning masters' degrees from Drake University and United States Sports Academy (Daphne, Al).

He made an even bigger jump up from there, becoming district athletic director of Burnsville High School in Minnesota — one of the largest schools in the state (eighth largest enrollment in 2011) and one of its best athletic programs. There, Garvis was instrumental in leading the implementation of a $3.1 million baseball facility.

"That's one thing that I've done at every place I've been at. We've done a ton of work with renovating and adding new facilities," Garvis said. "You look in the paper and see all the great things our kids do and all the success they've had individually and as teams. It really sells itself. It's probably the easiest fundraising you can do when you have a bunch of great kids. You can go out and tell the story of the kinds of things they can do if given better facilities or equipment."

Garvis was at Burnsville from 2006-2010, and then headed out west to Sammamish, Wash.,  to become athletic director of Eastside Catholic High School, a position he held until coming to Newton. Eastside Catholic finished ninth in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Scholastic Cup standings for the 2010-2011 school year, which was the highest finish in school history. After fall of 2011, the school was in second place in the state. MLB Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda spoke at the school's inaugural athletic benefit, which raised $375,000 for the athletic department. Garvis also negotiated an all-school agreement with Nike, launched an enhanced website and initiated an athletic advisory council for student-athlete leaders among the various teams.

After that, it was Garvis' Iowa roots that brought him back to the area. His sister lives in Newton, and her husband Pat Riley — NHS golf coach and math teacher — called Garvis and asked if he would be interested in the athletic director position.

"We wanted to be closer to family," Garvis said. "My dad lives in Altoona. My sister is teaching at Prairie City-Monroe. It afforded me the opportunity to get back to Iowa. It was a good chance to come back and be a at a great school."

Garvis was pleased with what he saw when he interviewed, and took the job shortly thereafter.

"I was really impressed with Mr. (Steve) McDermott and Mr. (Bill) Peters," Garvis said of the Newton schools superintendent and NHS principal. "As an AD, it's always good to have upper administration that cares about athletics and activities and has a passion for them. That made it an easier decision."

Garvis is a Hawkeye fan, which he said hasn't been very popular in the NHS main office. He's also a Minnesota Vikings fan. He and his wife Jane have three children — a son entering seventh grade, a daughter entering kindergarten and a daughter entering preschool.

"My wife is a huge sports fan, which is great," Garvis said. "It has to be a family affair. My wife brings the kids to all the games. We're a pretty athletic family."

Garvis already has gotten Newton more connected online, creating his own Twitter page that can be followed at @CardinalAD, and he's created a Facebook page called "Newton Cardinals Sports & Activities." Both sites act as a hub for all things Cardinal athletics. Also, for the first year ever, fans can buy tickets to NHS sporting events by going to www.totalgatesolutions.com/CatalogView.aspx?schoolId=295.

Garvis' his first year on the job will be mostly about evaluating the athletic program as a whole before deciding what areas need improvement.

"I usually take the first year to see what's going on with an established school at Newton," he said. "After that, it's about finding out where the needs are. Right now I'm still finding out where the lightswitches are."

As far as what he finds as the best part of the job, Garvis said it's the progression of those he's worked with.

"Having kids come back that I've had in the past, and now they're having kids, which doesn't even seem possible," he said with a laugh. "I don't want to be a principle. I love being an athletic director. Being an old athlete, I still want to have that competition. I enjoy watching the kids develop as athletes and young people and go off to college. It's a pretty rewarding position."