UWM Assistant Athletic Director Tapped to Head Up SHS Sports

LeVar Ridgeway — current assistant athletic director at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee — will head up Shorewood athletics next school year after the School Board approved his hiring Tuesday night. 

Ridgeway will oversee Shorewood High School and Intermediate School athletics next year, with a salary of $50,000, not including a fringe benefits package. The School Board budgeted $45,000 for the position, but Superintendent Martin Lexmond said as the district has gone through the hiring process for other staff members in recent months, salaries have balanced out. Athletic boosters had asked for school officials to consider boosting the budgeted salary to attract more talented candidates. 

Ridgeway has spent the past 11 years in UWM athletics as assistant athletic director, most recently specializing in marketing the Division 1 school's sports programs. 

"Mr. Ridgeway’s experience in revenue generation, branding, special event management, and corporate sponsorship sales will provide Shorewood athletics programming a unique and welcomed opportunity to build on our recent successes," Shorewood High School Principal Matt Joynt said in a memo to the board. 

"We're excited about having someone who is tuned in at the level many of our student-athletes aspire to play at one day, and have an interest in," Joynt said during the meeting. 

The district sought candidates for athletic director, fielding more than 100 applicants, after current Athletic Director Bill Haury announced in January he would retire at the end of the school year. 

Ridgeway will serve full-time in this new role, as opposed to Haury, whom split duties as sports director and dean of students at the middle school. 

Shorewood High School offers 23 sports over three seasons, according to the district website. Participation has risen in recent years to 56 percent at the high school.

Joynt said Ridgeway met with rounds of stakeholders during the hiring process, including parents, students and athletic boosters.

Read more:

• Shorewood Athletic Director Retiring at End of School Year

• Is Shorewood High Emerging As A 'Sports School?'