EXTRA: Foster steps down as Athletic Director

By Natalie Silver and Thomas Oide
Bluedevilhub.com Sports Editor and Staff–

Athletic Director Dennis Foster announced his resignation today in a letter emailed to Davis High coaches and staff. Foster’s resignation is effective June 30; he will serve as Athletic Director for the rest of the 2013-2014 school year.

Foster’s decision to resign comes two weeks after the resignation of now former DJUSD School Board Trustee Nancy Peterson. The school board later decided not to rehire volleyball coach Julie Crawford as coach of the men’s team, although she was approved today as the coach of the women’s team. The school board met in closed session on March 6 and announced afterwards that two administrators had been reassigned to the classroom; it is unclear if Foster is one of those administrators.

Foster, who will have completed four years in this position by June, said his plan is to return to his roots-coaching varsity basketball. “I have realized that I miss coaching too much–my family misses it as well, so I need to do everything in my power to return to the bench once again,” he said in his letter.

Foster said that he hopes to stay in the area and coach.

“I am probably going to stay local,” Foster said. “My wife is a special education teacher in the Sacramento area and it’s a really good job. I’m not interested in having her move. But obviously, if something that I can’t turn down comes up, I would return to San Diego, which is where I grew up and I would certainly take the job at my alma mater (Mira Mesa Senior High School), which may be available.”

Foster also highlighted the Athletic Department’s accomplishments over the past four years, including making progress on the Halden Field project, renovating the softball facility, increasing the number of involved DHS athletes by 300 and reaching a total of nearly 120 Sac-Joaquin Section titles. Foster’s coaching tenure was also marked with plenty of coaching changes outlined in the graphic above

There have been six athletic directors at DHS in the past 11 years. Foster does not yet know if he will be on the hiring committee for his successor.

“I don’t know, that’ll be decided by the principal and HR,” Foster said. “If they want me to be a part of the process, I would certainly do that. This is the school that my son went to, so it’s going to be his alma mater, I’ve lived in this community for a long time, I went to school at UC Davis, and so the future of Davis Senior high school’s athletic department is very important to me. Anything I can do in the time that I’m here, up until June to help things be better in the future, I am absolutely going to be a part of that.”

Foster concluded his letter by thanking his coaches and staff for their support and wishing DHS and the athletic department continued success. “I look forward to closely watching this athletic department continue to grow and thrive over the next few years,” he said.

Updates to follow on bluedevilhub.com