Joe Kimling
Joe Kimling brings an impressive résumé as the new Athletic Director at Washington High School.
The fall sports season begins Thursday with the Adam Sharp Invitational at Buckeye Hills Country Club.
Kimling, 53, is from Hudson, Michigan.
“It’s a small little community up in rural Michigan,” Kimling said. “I got my undergraduate at Defiance College and my Master’s at Xavier.
“This is my 29th year in education,” Kimling said. “I spent part of that time as a teacher and a coach.
“The last 24 years I’ve been an athletic director,” Kimling said. “Twenty-two of those years, my most recent stint was at Madeira High School in Cincinnati.”
Kimling is married. He and his wife, Kelly, have two sons, Joel and Jared.
He is eager to get started at Washington High School on the eve of the 2024-25 school year.
“I really am super-excited,” Kimling said. “I’m very thankful for the opportunity awarded to me by the board of education and Dr. (Tom) Bailey (the district’s superintendent).
“I’m really excited for this new adventure, this new chapter,” Kimling said. “It’s been 22 years since I’ve been the new guy. This has really invigorated me. I’m just excited to learn the community, get to know the kids, the coaches.
“My wife and I were looking for a new adventure, and Washington Court House gave us a feeling like the community we grew up in, in Michigan,” Kimling said.
“It’s been really fun so far,” Kimling said. ”I really am looking forward to getting engaged with the community.”
Washington High School offers many of the same sports as other schools in the area.
One sport missing from this year’s schedule for the last four seasons is boys’ soccer.
Washington last fielded a team in 2019.
Kimling was asked his thoughts about this sport.
“I haven’t been here, so I can’t speak to why we don’t have (boys) soccer,” Kimling said. “I think our population numbers would support having boys enough to have a soccer team. That would be a goal and something we could hopefully get started in the near future.
“Quite frankly, I don’t know the dynamics of why we had it and don’t have it any more,” Kimling said. “It’s a little difficult for me to speak specifically, just because I don’t have enough requisite background information to understand the nuances of the situation.
“Certainly, I think our population and the number of kids we have in this school district would be able to support that addition if we could get the enthusiasm from the right people that have a passion for boys soccer,” Kimling said. “And, I have to believe those people exist, we just have to find them.”
Status of the athletic department
“All indications are that this department is in a good place,” Kimling said. “Like anyplace, probably even at Madeira, you can find things to improve as you go.
“My number one goal right now is, I need to get engaged with the community, with the coaches and the kids,” Kimling said. “And enhance what we’re doing well and tweak where we need to make fixes. I don’t have a specific agenda.
“Right now, for me it’s a matter of learning the community, learning the culture,” Kimling said. “And kind of growing from there. To my knowledge, nothing is broke. Like anything else, we want to enhance what we do well and create a great environment for our kids.”
