The Utah High School Activities Association has hired a new assistant director.
Viewmont coach and teacher Bart Thompson will begin his new assignment with the UHSAA on June 1. He's an assistant football coach and head wrestling and track coach for 24 years and was selected from more than 47 applicants.
"It was an exhaustive search," said assistant director Dave Wilkey. "We had so many quality candidates that we narrowed the field twice and did two sets of interviews."
Wilkey said Thompson was selected because, "He seemed to be the right fit for the right time. He's a highly successful coach and teacher, and he's had some political involvement. We see him fitting a lot of different needs."
Thompson takes the place of Jerry Bovee, who helped the UHSAA secure a number of sponsorships, including a television contract with KJZZ, and he also lobbied with legislators on key issues. Bovee has continued to help UHSAA staff, even though he's started his new job as an administrator at Weber State University.
Wilkey said Thompson will help them with those issues, but he also brings his own unique strengths to the job as well.
"He's just got all the integrity in the world and he understands it's not a 9 to 5 job," Wilkey said.
UHSAA officials said they would love to have earlier than June 1 as this next month is one of the busiest times for UHSAA staff. They oversee state tournaments for track, boys tennis, boys soccer, baseball and softball in the next few weeks.
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