On Monday, Nick Blanch was at the Poland Board of Education. Cameras and media members were also in attendance, but he wasn’t the reason they came. They wanted to be there for the announcement that Michael Daley would take over as the new superintendent.

Blanch was there for a reason, however. He was named the new Poland athletic director, taking over for Brian Banfield, who will retire at the end of the school year.

“That news is what brought everybody to the meeting, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m here too.'” Blanch said with a laugh. “It was kinda funny because people were like, ‘You’re gonna get all the interviews.’ And I was like, ‘No. They’re not here for me.'”

Blanch has made his mark at Poland over the years, and with each new class, cultivated relationships with coaches, players and families.

Banfield needed a new girls basketball coach during his first year as the athletic director. It became the first position he filled, hiring Blanch in 2009.

“There are so many things you can do to enhance your school system, the athletes in your school system and even the non-athletes,” Blanch said. “There’s different events you can put on and include as many students as possible. It’s like a Bob Ross painting with a clear platform, and I get to include people.

“(Ross) used to say, ‘It’s your world. Put trees where you want it.’ I want to get creative and enhance what Brian and (athletic secretary) Kim Brant have been doing.”

For the last 17 years, Blanch has walked the sidelines of Poland girls basketball games. But he didn’t stop at girls hoops.

He was a common sight at boys games as well, and during football, soccer and other sports, he assisted in the gameday operations. He always wanted to become an athletic director, so when the position opened, his reputation as a coach and his experience with other sports helped him beat out 17 other candidates through three rounds of interviews.

“You want to do a great job. The standard is very high with what Brian Banfield and Kim Brant have done in that athletic office,” Blanch said. “The expectations are to keep it that high, and I plan on doing that. But it’s a lot.

“You go from managing your classroom and the basketball program to managing my classroom still and every single sport.”

Blanch is already getting a crash course on what to expect next year. Today, he’s learning what goes into organizing the track program’s Poland Invitational, which will take place on Saturday. He’s also looking for opponents for the football season and learning to balance the facilities’ schedule for practices and non-athletic events.

Banfield and Brant have helped him during his first week as he starts to make the adjustment.

“You gotta work with everybody. This is a true team,” Blanch said. “You got to be great with all members of the school system. There’s art shows we have to prepare for and make sure the fieldhouse isn’t used that night.”

The Poland athletic department has a wealth of experience with its coaches. Tom Pavlansky (football), Rich Murray (baseball), Jim Serich (softball) are examples of coaches who have years of experience leading programs in their respective sports.

The reason there’s a lack of turnover is due to how Banfield ran the athletic department, according to Blanch. And as the new AD, Blanch wants to follow that same open-dialogue approach.

“I’ve got to be that coach’s AD, just like Brian was. That’s the way you get people to stay,” Blanch said. “You try to minimize things and micromanage everything, you’ll see a revolving door here with the coaches as well because nobody likes to be micromanaged. If you’re gonna trust them to be your coach, you gotta let them run it. And just as long as they’re working with you, keeping you included as the athletic administrator, it’s going to be a great relationship.”

But those follow the administrative standard that Poland has featured since Banfield took over.

Blanch’s goal is to involve as many members of the community as possible. The girls basketball program was his passion for 17 years, and now he wants to bring that same energy to the rest of the school district.

“I want the teachers, the band, the choir, if there’s things they want to do differently at a Friday night football game. I want them to feel like I’m not just there for the athletic teams,” Blanch said.

“For as much as I’ve poured into girls basketball since 2002 as an assistant working my way up, I want all these coaches and teachers to come back. I want to get attendance even higher, get more school involvement, community involvement. This is a big platform here, and I just want to get as many people involved as possible.”