Even the best laid plans can change quickly. Brittany Dye’s plans for the fall season seemed to be set in stone at Hiram College but opportunity knocked and opened the door for her to return to her alma matter, having been approved as Crestwood’s new Athletic Director by the Board of Education on July 8.
“It is an honor and a privilege, and I am really excited for the opportunity,” Dye told The Weekly Villager. “I think we have a special community and I hope I can serve the people well and I am hoping to give the student-athletes the same positive experience I had as a student-athlete there.”
Dye returns home after spending the last seven years at Hiram College as the women’s volleyball coach. She had actually just been appointed as the Terrier men’s volleyball coach late May in addition to her responsibilities as the women’s coach but instead will take over for Troy Spiker, who stepped down as the Red Devils’ Athletic Director after four years to become the new Athletic Director at Orrville High School.
It marks the second significant administrative change for the Crestwood School District in as many years, as former Windham Superintendent Aireane Curtis replaced Red Devils’ Superintendent Dr. David Toth last year.
Dye acknowledged the importance that she and Curtis will be aligned to provide some stability for the Crestwood School District.
“Aireane has been very supportive through this interview process, so I am really optimistic working with her and the other administrators at the high school level,” she added. “Everyone seems to have a pretty positive outlook and I think that is the most important thing for a small-town area like this to keep building and keep recruiting good families to be a part of our community.”
Dye said although she had always been interested in becoming an athletic director, there were very few positions she would have considered outside of Crestwood because her three children attend the school district. Coaching at Hiram offered her flexibility to still spend time with her sons. Now that Dye has inherited the Athletic Director’s post, she can spend even more time with her sons, including attending many more of their athletic events.
“Hiram’s Athletic Director Scott Pohlman has always told us that family is the most important thing. That is the priority and I think if family is my number one priority, then moving to Crestwood was the right move to make,” she said.
In addition to the benefit of having more time with her family as Crestwood’s new Athletic Director, Dye added that she also was recruited by several community members and administrative employees to put her name forward to become the new leader of Crestwood’s athletic department.
The 2005 Crestwood graduate was a three-sport athlete during her high school days, competing in volleyball, girls’ basketball, and softball, including being a member of the 2003 Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II state softball championship squad.
“Regardless of the wins, I loved every minute of it,” Dye noted. “I loved being a part of multiple teams and I loved being a three-sport athlete. I have friendships from way back when. I am still pretty close with some of my teammates and still share funny stories but I really never thought I would be back as an Athletic Director. I am really proud to fill those shoes.”
Even after graduating from Crestwood, she never ventured too far out of the area, continuing her athletic career at Hiram College and then returning to Crestwood as an assistant volleyball and girls’ basketball coach while working as a substitute teacher in the Portage County school district.
Dye said she was recruited by longtime volleyball Coach Wanda Hoffman, her high school coach, to become an assistant coach at her alma matter and joined Darin Cook’s staff in the girls’ basketball program.
A year after her return, Dye took over for Hoffman as the volleyball coach and also inherited the girls’ basketball program from Cook. She spent six years in both positions and even secured a full-time job as the athletic secretary to then-Athletic Director Bob Dean toward the end of her Crestwood coaching career.
She stepped down from her positions at Crestwood in 2017 and headed to Hiram to take over as the women’s volleyball coach and also served as the interim men’s volleyball coach in the 2020 campaign.
Having once again returned to Crestwood, Dye said that she intends to ensure that all athletic coaches and programs feel her full support in her first year at the helm.
“I feel like the athletes and the family members will be encouraged too,” she said. “I want to make Crestwood a place that we can be proud of and that includes everything, facilities, who we are playing, and who is on the schedule and how we are carrying ourselves.”
