Panhandle Post by Jake Schrantz
For Brent Bauer, football has been his life. For over two decades, he could be seen on the sidelines under the Friday night lights, watching his vision for his team play out on the field in front of him. Now, he is set to take on a new role at a new school.
After nearly 10 years as the head football coach at Ogallala High School, Bauer is only about a month out from his first Fall season as Activities Director for Alliance High School. This new role will allow him to have a different perspective and have more oversight over the wide variety of extracurricular activities AHS provides its students with. Bauer said a big reason for the move came with off the field priorities in mind.
"The bottom line to this transition for us was that my kids kind of needed a dad more than they needed a football coach," said the new Alliance High School Activities Director.
"I've been able to focus on being a better father and being a better husband. I'm not sure how much gains I've made in those departments, but it's been intentional to say the least."
Bauer comes to Alliance after a solid eight season stint as the head football coach in Ogallala. With three winning seasons, and four years with a record of .500 or better, Bauer's time in Ogallala can be seen as a success. The decision to come to Alliance, specifically, had a lot to do with his personal ties to the town.
"We've got some really close friends that have been in my life for a long, long time, and they're from Alliance," said the Pleasanton, Nebraska-native.
"They always spoke so highly of the community and the history here. So that was something that really made it appealing."
With so many years as a coach, Bauer said he is excited to take on this new challenge where he is responsible for more than just his team.
"That's something I really value, is being involved with an entire activity department," said Bauer.
"Being able to not only influence kids, but also influence coaches. That's a role I don't take lightly."
With this change in position also comes another very busy schedule. However, this life of long hours helping young students find what they are passionate about isn't seen as "work" for Bauer.
"I don't view it as a job, I don't view myself as busy. I really enjoy this," said the former coach.
"I use the word 'fun' a lot. I am having fun and I enjoy the new experiences. I was probably ready for some new experiences and to interact with some different people...I really value that. I took Ogallala football very personal, and now I'm taking Alliance activities very personal."
Bauer talked a lot about how important an Activities Director is to forming the culture and community of a school. He said this was one of his favorite aspects of the position. An initiative he is working on pushing at AHS is the concept of "impact players."
"You know you got to have hashtags nowadays," said Bauer.
"One of our hashtags we use in all of our social media is the term 'impact player.' We're looking to recognize kids that are making positive impacts in their programs, in our school and in our community."
This focus on the community in Alliance was a consistent point Bauer focused on. One example of this was his high praise for all the different coaches and leaders of each of the programs. But even with this confidence in their respective abilities, he said taking a more "hands-off" approach will be difficult.
"The biggest hurdle for me is going to be step back and let our coaches take whatever tools that I'm sharing with them - use (those tools) at their own customization and make it work for them," said Bauer.
"Being able to sit back and watch coaches do what they're passionate about is exciting for me. But being able to sit back and not let that enthusiasm that I have not just come pouring out of me has been kind of tough."
When thinking about his first month leading up to fall sports, Bauer said that this time is crucial for being able to have a successful season.
"You can't win a state championship in your summer, but you sure as heck can lose it," he said.
"I feel like our coaches have done everything they can to stay on pace toward having a successful season, based on whatever their definition of success is."
It can be tough to find free time in such a busy schedule. Whether it was as a coach, or now as the Activities Director for Alliance High School, Bauer said he can't get to the beach enough.
"I don't know if I miss anything in Ogallala more than Lake McConaughy - still plan to get there though," he said.
Other free time out of the office is spent reading or spending time with his family, which was a significant reason for making the career change.
As Bauer wrapped up the conversation, his mind once again went to thinking about the people of Alliance, and the importance of attending these student activities.
"We hope the community buys in as well," said Bauer.
"We're excited to see them at our activities, and looking forward to meeting as many people as we can...I think the community will like what they see with what the product of Alliance Bulldogs activities is going to be."
With golf, tennis, cross country, football and many other activities just around the corner, Bauer is set to take an important step in his journey from coach to activities director. He'll look to translate those leadership qualities he showed on the sidelines into this new role with AHS.